Don’t expect Joe Miller to concede anytime soon. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has declared victory, but the Miller campaign, citing the election’s close margin (among uncontested ballots, Murkowski leads by about 2,200 votes; if you add the contested ballots in, Murkowski has a lead of about 10,000 votes in an election where 255,000 votes were cast), is considering asking for a recount and examining precinct logs today and possibly tomorrow as well to see if any voting irregularities occurred.
The Miller campaign has posted on their site three affidavits from voters concerned that irregular activity occurred at their polling places. One says that, although he was the tenth voter at his location, he saw a ballot box stuffed with “hundreds” of ballots. Another claims that the 15 write-in ballots she reviewed had Sen. Lisa Murkowski written in in what looked like similar enough handwriting that it could be from the same person.
“Our campaign has sworn affidavits identifying unsecured ballot boxes, other precincts where numerous ballots appear to be in the same handwriting, others where there is 100 percent voter turnout and still other precincts where the ballots were sent to the Division of Elections presorted by U.S. Senate candidate,” said Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto in a statement. “These and other irregularities give our campaign pause. Alaskans must be able to trust the results of its elections.”
The Miller campaign, citing the a past history of irregularities from Alaska’s voting machines, is considering asking the state to do a hand recount of the votes. Joining them in that request is an unusual ally: liberal Alaskan radio host Shannyn Moore, who has made it clear she doesn’t support Miller’s candidacy. But in article for the Huffington Post, she questions the accuracy of the senate vote count, writing:
Despite heavy national media coverage and historic Citizens United money spent on Alaska’s hotly contested and much-watched three-way US Senate race, the results, if we are to believe them, were a surprisingly low voter turnout. In fact, this election was one of the lowest turnouts since they started tracking ballots cast versus registered voters in the mid-1970s.
It’s strange that Anchorage appearances by both Rachel Maddow and Glenn Beck covering the high profile race had such a chilling effect on voters. It’s curious that the forgotten gubernatorial race, reportedly, had several hundred more votes recorded than the attention-grabbing U.S. Senate race. Furthermore, as returns from around the state poured in on election night, the percentages between candidates in statewide races never changed throughout the evening-despite Juneau, for instance, being ideologically opposite of Wasilla.
Election chain of custody is the unbroken trail of overseeable accountability that ensures the physical security of our ballots during an election. Goldbelt Security Services was contracted by the Alaska Division of Elections to provide the security and transportation of the ballots to Juneau. Goldbelt is an Alaska Native Corporation with SBA 8(a) status-meaning they are eligible for sole-source, no-bid government contracts. The 8(a) program was relentlessly attacked by Joe Miller. The Alaska Native 8(a)’s unanimously backed Lisa and provided tremendous financial support in the bargain. As they transported the record of the state’s future, Goldbelt Security had a tremendous stake in the outcome of the election. Imagine if the Alaska Division of Elections contracted Drop Zone Security to transport and guard the election ballots. How would the Murkowski camp react?
I’m not buying it. We are a small enough state that we should have hand counts.
The Alaska Republican party has asked Miller to concede. “We call on Joe Miller to respect the will of the voters and end his campaign in a dignified manner,” said chairman Randy Ruedrich in a statement, according to the Anchorage Daily News. National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brian Walsh told the Associated Press today that the election “should be decided by the people of Alaska” and said he would not comment further until the election was certified.
I think Joe should fight this until the end. Murkowski is a disgrace.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDid they ask Murkowski to back off? They oughta make her the Senate hat check girl.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Citizens United money"?! Give it a rest, lefties!
When liberal 527s, like - say - Moveon.org, Center for American Progress, People for the American Way, Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund - donate to elections, those donations are automatically of questionable validity, too, right? Mmm-hmmm!
The only thing here of questionable validity is that a group of people with probably the strongest direct stake in the outcome of the election - a group currently receiving government benefits the receipt of which was a central issue in the campaign - was in charge of ballot security.
If I ever decide to run a ponzi scheme, and I need shareholder approval from certain entities to make my scheme a reality, I'm hiring Bernie Madoff to count the proxy cards!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere were over 50000 more votes in the Senate race than either the Governor's race or for the at large rep. Not to sure if this is unusual or not.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo Miller should abide the voters but Murky didn't have to in the primary? Do I have that right?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFlush Murky.
Can we officially start calling Joe Miller Sore Loserman now?
I mean, Al Gore was expected to concede after he had won the national popular vote and trailed by a whopping 568 votes in Florida with thousands of contested ballots remaining. By that standard, Joe Miller lost in a landslide.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Citizens United money"?! Give it a rest, lefties!"
I think Moore intended to illustrate the unusual low voter turnout with the Citizens United comment (along with her Glenn Beck, Rachel Maddow and heavy media observations). It wouldn't surprise me if she was against that particular ruling, especially considering her liberal credentials, but I think her reasons for bringing it up laid elsewhere in this particular matter.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMy guess is that there are significant voting irregularities. However, proving that they are large enough to change the outcome of the election is a tall order.
The current governor of Alaska is Sean Parnell who is reputedly a Sarah Palin ally. Sarah Palin is a Joe Miller ally. I am inclined to think that the Alaska state government would take a serious look at any voting irregularities.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMyKu:
The high road littered
with squished conservative pols
just got messier.
----------------
I wasn't alive for the Kennedy/Nixon election, but Oliver Stone told me all I need to know about that. :p
Like Nixon, then, and Tom Foley, now, and innumerable others in-between, I wonder if Miller's going to concede soon. I don't know.
I think the state GOP pressure might just further motivate Miller - him with the TEA credentials and whatnot - to keep fighting.
Meanwhile, the GOP rarely wins these sorts of things. There too many crazy left-leaning courts and attorneys. There is a rich history of conservatives falling on their swords. That history is enhanced by the natural post-election tendency towards cohesion within the various factions comprising the two "sides".
In the end, I think he's cooked whether he won the election by the rules or not.
Unrelated point... A write-in? Are you kidding me? If I would have suggested that possibility a few months ago, I'd have been introduced to paper slippers and making ashtrays out of clay.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMyKu:
The high road littered
with squished conservative pols
just got messier.
----------------
I wasn't alive for the Kennedy/Nixon election, but Oliver Stone told me all I need to know about that. :p
Like Nixon, then, and Tom Foley, now, and innumerable others in-between, I wonder if Miller's going to concede soon. I don't know.
I think the state GOP pressure might just further motivate Miller - him with the TEA credentials and whatnot - to keep fighting.
Meanwhile, the GOP rarely wins these sorts of things. There too many crazy left-leaning courts and attorneys. There is a rich history of conservatives falling on their swords. That history is enhanced by the natural post-election tendency towards cohesion among the various factions comprising the two "sides".
In the end, I think he's cooked whether he won the election by the rules or not.
Unrelated point... A write-in? Are you kidding me? If I would have suggested that possibility a few months ago, I'd have been introduced to paper slippers and making ashtrays out of clay.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJoe Miller is right to request a recount, considering the uncontested ballots only favor Lisa M by less than 1% and all the irregularities. But he should concede immediately if the recount doesn't change things, especially after all those snotty "Lisa feels entitled to the job" ads.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is a case of the wish being the father of the thought, and it is where we have come to, post Florida 2000. Now conservatives are seized with this malady. If your candidate loses, it's fraud. And: "Look, my friend told me that his wife's sister knows people who saw ballot boxes being stuffed in the precinct she drove by on her way to Wal-Mart." Sigh. Oh, and everyone knows that the Native corporations are behind it. All right then. Count the ballots by hand. Have nuns do the counting. Spend the time. Spend the money. And watch Joe Miller lose by thousands. That is unless you hold to the "law is an ass, an idiot" position that if the ballot says "Murkowski, Lisa" rather than "Lisa Murkowski" (one of Miller's team's challenges, BTW), the ballot should be disqualified. Then all bets are off, and maybe Todd Zwicki is right, and the 17th Amendment should be repealed.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTen years after Bush v. Gore, our election system is still hopelessly sloppy.
Why? Is it part of our culture-wide crisis in standards of conduct, basic competence, and ability to get things done without tying ourselves in knots? Did complacency and laziness set in massively and instantly after the gush of spending on spiffy new voting machines in the early oughts?
Or does the sloppiness, and its tendency to yield indeterminable true results at the end of it all, serve too many peoples' interests for it to change?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDid the Alaska Republican party ask Murkowski not to run after Miller won the Republican primary out of respect to the will of the Republican voters?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePersonally, I doubt the report that a ballot box was stuffed before the polls were open. I work the polls each election, and it would take collusion among every poll worker as well as forging signatures on the voter roster to make the totals match (assuming Alaska works similarly to California). Fraud could conceivable occur where the ballot boxes (and electronic voting devices) are gathered, but I don't think anyone is going to risk a felony to decide between one Republican and another.
I just don't believe it. Fine, demand a recount, but sadly Murkowski probably one fair and square, and via a write-in to boot.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"liberal Alaskan radio host"..."despite Juneau, for instance, being ideologically opposite of Wasilla."
Is this accurate? There are Progressives in, of all places, Alaska now? I knew the viral infection in the country was bad, but I didn't know it was thatbad.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think it's time for Joe to give it up. Nothing this article says shows that he has any real chance of prevailing, and it's my view that you don't challenge an election based on procedural irregularities unless you believe it made a difference in the outcome. Given the size of Murkowski's margin of victory, it did not. Time to place the call. Disappointing result, but time to move on.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGive it a rest, Randy. It has already been shown by the Princess that the will of the voters doesn't matter to the Alaska Republican party.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is another case of the infamous Diebold election machines with their built in errors, and, of course, good ole ballot box stuffing. At this point the governor of Alaska should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate this election. I look forward to seeing Linda Mukowski doing a frog walk along with here Eskimo minions. It will be called Snow White and the seven dwarfs.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePrincess Lisa cheated? Gosh, what a shock! Not.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse