Should it matter how Alaskans spelled 'Murkowski'?

Write-in candidate Sen. Lisa Murkowski holds a slim lead as Alaska continues to tally its votes — but her opponent thinks spelling should count

Despite Miller's lawsuit, hand count board members begin checking and counting the more than 92,000 write-in ballots cast in the Alaska Senate race.
(Image credit: Getty)

Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller has filed a federal lawsuit saying election officials should throw out every write-in ballot on which the name of his rival and fellow Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is misspelled. The state has been allowing votes for "Merkowski," "Mirkowski," and other near misses where "voter intent" seemed clear, and Murkowski's campaign says discarding those ballots would be unfair. But Miller says Alaska law is clear — voters have to nail the spelling or their ballots don't count, no exceptions. Is he clutching at straws? (Watch an AP report about Miller's challenge)

Yes, Miller is pushing this too far: One can't fault Joe Miller for trying, says Alex Pareene at Salon. The Tea Party favorite came so close to unseating Murkowski, but it's now pretty clear he doesn't have "a shot at legitimately winning this thing." He's claiming people who misspelled "Murkowski" might have been casting "protest" votes that they knew wouldn't count. That's far-fetched, and "even if 8 percent of write-ins are tossed — which is his hopeful estimate" — Miller still loses.

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