Judge halts certification of Murkowski win
By: Shira Toeplitz
November 19, 2010 08:25 PM EST
A federal judge ruled Friday in favor of Republican Joe Miller to halt the certification of the election results – at least provisionally – in his race against Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s write-in campaign to retain her seat.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline granted a temporary injunction to stop election officials from certifying the results of the Senate race, according to the Associated Press.
However, Beistline granted the injunction as long as Miller moves his case to state court instead of federal court by Monday. Beistline reportedly said that state court is in “the best position, at least initially, to apply Alaska law and to determine who won this election.”
The results of the case, which will likely now be determined in state court, will be instrumental in determining the final results of the Senate seat – although a Miller victory is still a long shot.
Murkowski currently leads by about 10,400 votes -- including about 8,100 votes that have been challenged by the Miller campaign for incorrect spelling and other reasons they believe makes the ballot questionable. Election officials have said that they planned to judge write-in votes for Murkowski based on voter intent, which means that spelling would not matter if the intent of the voter was clear.
However, if Miller wins his lawsuit over spelling, it could put him in striking range of Murkowski’s vote totals – although the senator would still lead him by at least 2,000 votes. If the results are close, Miller has said that he may request a recount.
<SNIP>
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=66E3259F-9B2E-4F4A-6CBCC1DAD377A2C5 
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
