Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller, write-in candidate Sen. Lisa Murkowski and the state Division of Elections are all awaiting a state Supreme Court decision in Miller’s legal challenge of the Senate race’s results.
If the court does not rule in Miller’s favor, his campaign says it will take the next legal options one step at a time -- possibly including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Alaska’s Supreme Court justices questioned Miller's legal team, as well as attorneys for the state and the Murkowski campaign during a nearly two-hour hearing Friday.
With unofficial results showing Miller behind Murkowski by 10,328 votes, or 2,169 when ballots challenged by Miller observers are excluded, Justice Dana Fabe asked Miller’s legal team what -- if any -- impact the court’s decision would have on the outcome of the election.
“Even if you win on this argument and every one of the challenged ballots is set aside, it makes no difference in this count, and it makes no difference in the outcome of this election unless you win on one of your other counts -- isn't that correct?” Fabe said.
The Miller team says thousands of votes were possibly compromised by inaccuracies and inconsistency throughout the vote-counting process. But Justice Daniel Winfree questioned the sequence of Miller’s legal steps.
“But there hasn't been a recount, so why is it that we have before us today claims about, and a request for us to rule, I guess, on whether or not the division properly counted votes of people who you alleged may not be identified?” Winfree said. “Votes of people that you allege may have been felons. and votes that you allege -- the 1,300 uncounted votes: why are those before us today, as opposed to waiting for a recount and then an election appeal?”
The state and Murkowski deny Miller's claims, and have argued that the math does not work in his favor.
Regardless of the decision, a deadline looms: Alaska's next U.S. senator is to be sworn in within three weeks, on Jan. 5. Before that can happen, a federal judge must lift a stay on certification of the election results.
Contact Ted Land at tland@ktuu.com
