Lisa Murkowski’s bid to become the first Senator elected on a write-in campaign since 1954 will take several more days as Alaskan officials count and tally write-in and absentee ballots, CNN reported.
With all precincts reporting, write-in votes led Alaska’s election for Senator with 40.95 percent, with Miller trailing 34.34 percent, according to Alaska’s Division of Elections.
Murkowski’s camp has argued that almost all the write-in votes are for her, but Miller’s campaign said Murkowski was facing an “uphill battle” and that she “has no claim on a victory.”
Alaskan authorities will now have to go through the difficult and tedious process of wading through every write-in ballot and determining, on a “case-by-case basis,” who each voter intended to vote for, director of Alaska’s Division of Elections Gail Fenumiai told CNN.
That means that things could get confusing for write-in ballots that don’t exactly say “Lisa Murkowski” or “Murkowski,” the only two undeniably valid entries that would count for Murkowski.
Matt Felling, an anchor for KTVA-TV in Anchorage, told CNN that the race could become the “highest stakes spelling bee in American political history.”
“Now we are going to find out how many people can put nine letters together that somewhat resemble Murkowski.”
Even through counting of write-in and absentee ballots begins next Wednesday, according to Fenumiai via the Christian Science Monitor, both camps have laid claim to the Senate seat.
Murkowski, the incumbent Senator who was forced to run as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary to Joe Miller, claimed that she had won, stating on her website, “We are poised to win and very confident.”
Meanwhile, Miller was also claiming victory, saying that he and his campaign “[remain] optimistic that Joe Miller will be the next U.S. Senator from the state of Alaska,” according to a statement on his campaign website.
With all precincts reporting, write-in votes led Alaska’s election for Senator with 40.95 percent, with Miller trailing 34.34 percent, according to Alaska’s Division of Elections.
Murkowski’s camp has argued that almost all the write-in votes are for her, but Miller’s campaign said Murkowski was facing an “uphill battle” and that she “has no claim on a victory.”
Alaskan authorities will now have to go through the difficult and tedious process of wading through every write-in ballot and determining, on a “case-by-case basis,” who each voter intended to vote for, director of Alaska’s Division of Elections Gail Fenumiai told CNN.
That means that things could get confusing for write-in ballots that don’t exactly say “Lisa Murkowski” or “Murkowski,” the only two undeniably valid entries that would count for Murkowski.
Matt Felling, an anchor for KTVA-TV in Anchorage, told CNN that the race could become the “highest stakes spelling bee in American political history.”
“Now we are going to find out how many people can put nine letters together that somewhat resemble Murkowski.”
Even through counting of write-in and absentee ballots begins next Wednesday, according to Fenumiai via the Christian Science Monitor, both camps have laid claim to the Senate seat.
Murkowski, the incumbent Senator who was forced to run as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary to Joe Miller, claimed that she had won, stating on her website, “We are poised to win and very confident.”
Meanwhile, Miller was also claiming victory, saying that he and his campaign “[remain] optimistic that Joe Miller will be the next U.S. Senator from the state of Alaska,” according to a statement on his campaign website.
