JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision in the disputed U.S. Senate race, saying the state correctly counted write-in votes for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
The decision Wednesday followed a hearing on Republican Joe Miller’s appeal of a state judge’s decision to toss out his challenge to the state’s counting of ballots for Murkowski, his election rival.
The state says it relied on case law to use discretion in determining voter intent, allowing ballots with misspellings to be counted toward Murkowski’s tally.
Murkowski lost to Miller in the Republican primary, but led by more than 10,000 votes as a write-in candidate in last month’s general election. She leads by 2,169 votes when ballots challenged by Miller’s campaign are excluded.
Miller has said he would evaluate his legal options.
