The Alaska Supreme Court is about to decide the fate of Joe Miller's challenge to the way the state handled the senate election. The state's highest court wrapped up a hearing on the matter Friday afternoon.
The Supreme Court justices want specifics and examples from both sides to back up their arguments.
“You keep saying that, but there's no calculations anywhere so that I can assure myself that it's moot. I'm not a mathematician and I'm not going to go figure it out myself,” Justice Daniel Winfree said when attorneys for Sen. Lisa Murkowski argued that the whole notion of arguing over the ballot count is moot because even with unchallenged votes, Murkowski still wins.
The Miller legal team alleges fraud and says they don't trust the judgment of Division of Elections director Gail Fenumiai, who decided which questioned write-in ballots should be credited to Murkowski.
The Miller team thinks it can get enough votes thrown out to at least spur a recount, which it thinks could tilt the election in Miller’s favor.
Those types of claims are what the Supreme Court is looking for further proof on.
The justices expressed concern that it's difficult to trust certain statements when there has not been a recount.
Still, the main argument is over voter intent and whether spelling variations of the name Lisa Murkowski should be counted.
“The legislature certainly has not stated in clear and certain terms that a voter must spell a candidate’s name exactly as it appears on the declaration of candidacy in order to have that vote counted,” said Joanne Grace, an attorney for the state
“The legislature did not intend to allow such a mushy subjective standard to be applied to something as fundamentally crucial as votes that will determine who becomes the next governor, who becomes the next U.S. Senator,” argued Michael Morley, an attorney for Miller.
A written decision from the Supreme Court could come as soon as Friday evening, but it has a lot to sort through and could take through the weeken
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