Joe Miller Sues To Stop Alaska From Accepting Murkowski Misspellings

Alaska’s Republican Senatorial candidate Joe Miller has filed a lawsuit Tuesday that would disqualify ballots cast by voters who misspelled the name of write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski.

The complaint accuses the state’s top election official of “changing the rule for this election after voting has been completed,” and goes on to argue that new provisions granting leniency for the spelling of Murkowski’s name goes against previously accepted provisions of Alaska law.

Initially, Alaskan officials suggested that misspelling of Murkowski would count if it was clear who the voter was intending to support. Miller’s lawsuit argues that the “voter intent” guideline lacks “a statutory, constitutional and regulatory basis.”

Miller, a tea party backed candidate and early favorite in the race, came in second last Tuesday to write in votes, the bulk of which likely went to incumbent Murkowski. Democrat Scott McAdams came in third.