Alaska Senate Election: Bush v. Gore, Franken v. Coleman . . . Miller v. Murkowski?

Hubris, However, Is Communicable.  Yes, perhaps Joe Miller was a bit premature in his tweets back in September, but, lest I be found guilty of the same hubris, the Alaska Senate election is still not officially certified, despite Murkowski’s 11,512 vote lead, and despite her victory lap. Miller has asked that all votes be recounted, not merely the write-ins and absentees. In addition, he has today filed an affidavit in federal court officially declaring his intention to ask for that recount.  Moreover, Miller’s affidavit was buttressed by former (2002-2006) Alaska Lt. Governor Loren Leman’s own. In it he stated that he would have “directed the Division [of Elections] Director to follow a ‘strict interpretation’ of election law . . .” regarding the counting of write-in votes, i.e. misspellings of a candidate’s name would not have been counted during Leman’s reign.

Self-serving as it may yet be judged, Miller’s stated concern about the “validity” of the election has, well, validity;  the state’s Diebold electronic voting system has been under attack since 1994, and has never been adequately addressed.  Here’s a 2006 article about the 2004 national election:

According to the Division of Elections’ vote reports that were produced by the state’s Diebold computer system and are posted on the Division’s official web site, a far larger number of votes were cast than the official totals reported in the statewide summary. In the case of President George Bush’s votes, the district-by-district totals add up to 292,267, but his official total was only 190,889, a difference of 101,378 votes. In the U.S. Senate race, Lisa Murkowski received 226,992 votes in the district-by-district totals, but her official total was only 149,446, a difference of 77,546 votes.

In 20 of the 40 State House Districts, more ballots were cast than there are registered voters in the district, according to information on the state’s web site. In 16 election districts, the voter turnout percentage shown is over 200%.

So, let’s not prematurely announce Miller’s political demise . . . although his chances are slimmer than slim. Below are the final results of the write-in votes.  Note the CC (Challenged Counted) and the CNC (Challenged NOT Counted) categories.  If Miller gets his hand recount (and that’s not certain), and he prevails on, let’s say, half of the CC’s and all the CNCs then he could be within striking distance. Even then, however, he’d prevail only if the electronic voting hand recount revealed wild discrepancies like the one’s discussed above in the 2004 election, and only if most of those (as yet unidentified) discrepancies ultimately go Miller’s way.

State of Alaska 2010 General Election Unofficial Results United States Senator Write-In CC – Challenged Counted CNC – Challenged NOT Counted 11/16/1016:55:49

Registered Voters 494876 –                                 Cards Cast 103569 20.93%

Num. Report Precinct 438 –                             Num. Reporting 438 100.00%

US SENATOR WRITE-IN Total Number of Precincts 438 Precincts Reporting 438 100.0 % Times Counted 103569/494876 20.9 % Total Votes 103569 Lisa Murkowski 92715 89.52% Murkowski (CC) 8153 7.87% Murkowski (CNC) 2010 1.94% Other – Misc. Names 612 0.59% Write-In Miller, Joe 20 0.02% Write-In McAdams 8 0.01%

 

Please Say It’s Over.  Joe’s road to the top, though, seems steep and slippery.  He’s substantially behind in the vote count, but percentage-wise, as he points out repeatedly, his deficit is around 1% of 192,000+ votes cast.  To secure a tie vote, based only upon the pre-hand count numbers above, Miller would need to gain 5, 756 votes from Murkowski’s ballots he challenged. And recall again the shameful state of the Diebold voting system that has prevailed since 2004 – and remains strangely unresolved.  

With tough sledding ahead of him, Joe might better tweet that he’s looking for new office furniture, not in D.C., but in . . . Fairbanks. Yet, if the courts get involved more deeply . . . and with Diebold’s well-earned dis-reputation . . . Hmmmmmm.  Maybe Joe will get a good deal on Lisa Murkowski’s D.C. office furniture.

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