Alaska Senate Race: Frank Murkowski appointee reinvents Alaska law to mean voter intent

Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who oversees Alaska elections, has indicated that he will accept minor misspellings of [Lisa] Murkowski’s name as long as the “voter intent” is clear. “The courts have been very clear for the last 25 years that voter intent is important,” Campbell said in an interview this week with KENI radio host Mike Porcaro. “You do not want to disenfranchise voters over a technicality.”

But Van Flein, [Joe] Miller’s lawyer, is arguing that nothing in state law allows for that kind of discretion. “The statute does not allow for the election board to weigh ‘voter intent,’ ‘voter feelings,’ or ‘voter hopes,’ ” Van Flein wrote in a letter to Fenumiai.

Here’s what the law says:

“A vote for a write-in candidate, other than a write-in vote for governor and lieutenant governor, shall be counted if the oval is filled in for that candidate and if the name, as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy, of the candidate or the last name of the candidate is written in the space provided.”

Miller’s lawsuit argues the state waited until this week — “the eleventh hour” — to release a written policy saying it would weigh voter intent in the counting process.

Van Flein said the campaign is asking the court to respond to the complaint by noon today.

A Department of Law spokesman said he hadn’t seen the complaint yet and couldn’t comment.

BIAS ACCUSATION

The website Politics Daily reported that, during a conference call with conservative voters, Miller accused Campbell of bias, saying he was appointed by Murkowski’s father, then-Gov. Frank Murkowski.