I'm an official write-in candidate for US Senate. (how much, college)

[Marty Van Diest]

Originally Posted by think first

I suspect Marty will now do the same thing.

Don't need to, my name is easier to spell

[Floyd_Davidson]

Incidentally, as of Noon today it appears there won't be much to delay swearing in Lisa Murkowski for another term.

The ADN is reporting that about 98% of the write-in ballots are for Murkowski, and 10% of those are being challenged.

Unless something changes the percentages, they won't need to even count the challenged votes, because it will still be a significant enough lead for Murkowski even without the challenged votes.

Current numbers are 81195 votes for Miller and 92528 write-in votes. If 98% of those are for Murkowski, that's 90677, and if 10% of those are not counted it will be Murkowski, 81610 to 81195 for Miller.

Of course, if the challenged votes are counted there is little doubt that more than half of them will be accepted (probably more like 90%, but lets just use 50%), the results would be 86,143 to 81,195 which is an exceedingly comfortable margin.

And Miller's chances of getting even close to 10% of those write-ins thrown out are virtually nil. The courts have already ruled very clearly, and both Alaska Statutes and Administrative Regulations are certainly clear enough to make a 10% rejection rate virtually impossible (and almost technically impossible).

[Floyd_Davidson]

And a couple hours later they have released some "official" numbers of the count so far. With just over 10% of the write-in votes counted, Murkowski is getting 89% unchallenged. (Nearly all of the challenges are being overruled by officials, but that will be contested in court if the unchallenged votes are not sufficient to elect Murkowski.)

At the current rate Murkowski will end up, from only the unchallenged votes, with 1155 more votes than Miller, which is a substantial and conclusive lead.

With only 10% counted, that is interesting but is not conclusive enough to make it positive. By tomorrow at Noon though, they should be up to pretty close to 1/4 of the votes counted, and that will likely be enough to make good predictions. The actual final count is apparently going to take several days.

And a Federal judge has denied Miller's request to immediately stop the count. The essence is that
if the unchalleged votes are indeed sufficient, the court case will be denied as moot.

[RedJacket]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

And a Federal judge has denied Miller's request to immediately stop the count. The essence is that
if the unchalleged votes are indeed sufficient, the court case will be denied as moot.

Counting the votes now isn't hurting Miller one bit and the judge knows it. This is an election and not a spelling bee.

Clearly, unless something bizarre takes place, Lisa will be going back to Washington and Joe will be headed to a funny farm with his door plaque in hand.

[AKSteveB]

ok ..even a novelist couldn't make this stuff up. I'm starting to wonder if Miller has anyone left in this world who likes him who actually knows him, other than his family. I wonder if..once the election is over, if people will try to get him disbarred.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Judge with 'negative opinion' of Miller bows out of write-in case

By RICHARD MAUER

The federal judge originally assigned to hear Joe Miller's lawsuit to challenge how write-in ballots are counted took himself off the case today because of the "negative opinion" he held of Miller.

U.S. District Judge John Sedwick said Miller left the court system in the lurch in 2004 when he called Sedwick at 4:20 p.m. to tell him he was quitting that day as a part-time federal magistrate judge in Fairbanks.

"The process for filling a part-time magistrate judge position is lengthy, a fact well known to Mr. Miller because he had gone through that process," Sedwick wrote in an order from his chambers. "Mr. Miller's failure to give reasonable notice of his resignation left the court with no judicial officer resident in Fairbanks, and no ability to fill the vacancy for many months. This incident caused me to form a negative opinion of Mr. Miller."

At the time, Sedwick was the chief federal judge in Alaska and Miller's supervisor.



Read more: Judge with 'negative opinion' of Miller bows out of write-in case: 2010 Alaska U.S. Senate election | adn.com


Read more: Judge with 'negative opinion' of Miller bows out of write-in case: 2010 Alaska U.S. Senate election | adn.com

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by AKSteveB

To make life even more fun, apparently Alaska is one of eighteen states that provide for recall of a Senator.

Here ya go:

Recall Mark Begich! - Restore Public Trust & U.S.Representation for Alaska!

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by AKSteveB

ok ..even a novelist couldn't make this stuff up. I'm starting to wonder if Miller has anyone left in this world who likes him who actually knows him, other than his family. I wonder if..once the election is over, if people will try to get him disbarred.

It sounds like Octo-Dad is becoming increasingly desperate, seeing his prospects of a $174k annual salary quickly evaporating before his eyes. Maybe he also went out and dropped a big down payment on a place in DC, and can't get his money back. In any event, as you say he probaly realizes his future prospects for employment in Alaska are next to zip, and will be forced to move back to Kansas to support his super-sized family.

If all else fails, he could always pitch a new reality show to TLC: "Eighteen ways to lose an election and counting!"

[RedJacket]

Originally Posted by AKSteveB

U.S. District Judge John Sedwick said Miller left the court system in the lurch in 2004 when he called Sedwick at 4:20 p.m. to tell him he was quitting that day as a part-time federal magistrate judge in Fairbanks.

There's the common denominator that made Joe & Sarah a think alike team; they're both quitters.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by AKSteveB

ok ..even a novelist couldn't make this stuff up. I'm starting to wonder if Miller has anyone left in this world who likes him who actually knows him, other than his family. I wonder if..once the election is over, if people will try to get him disbarred.

It sounds as if Miller and his lawyers should in fact all be disbarred.

This morning, according the the ADN, a Miller observer challenged a write-in vote for Murkowski because "Lisa Murkowski" was printed correctly, but it appeared... now catch this: The "L" is Lisa was cursive.

The ADN article is not clear on the disposition of that vote. Obviously the election officials ruled it as a vote for Lisa Murkowski, but is it now a challenged vote or not? The difference is significant, because only if the unchallenged votes are enough to elect Murkowski will the court battle will be moot. If they challenge enough votes to make it technically possible to change the vote, it will take weeks or months to get to the final ruling (which already is very clearly going to be that Lisa Murkowski will remain in the US Senate).

It occurred to me yesterday that there is a crucial question about how it all works that we don't have an answer to right now. Does virtually anything, no matter how trivially invalid the challenge is, end up in the challenged box? If that is true, with the count running right at 1 to 2 percent above the limit that would allow Miller's lawsuits to proceed, can we expect on the last day Miller will simply challenge everything and anything, from across the room without ever so much as looking at it? If they have the brass to challenge "Murkowski, Lisa" and a printed "Lisa" with a cursive L, I can't see any ethics or integrity issues with saying the space between the names is too short or too long just to throw it all into court for two months.

These people are sleaze bags who signed up on the write-in list to cause confusion that disenfranchised voters... (Marty!)

[Metlakatla]

Alaska Politics Blog : Should this ballot count? | adn.com

Sen. Lisa Murkowski continued to win nearly 98 percent of the write-in vote as ballot reviews continued today in Juneau. Elections officials have now reviewed ballots for 32 percent of Alaska precincts. About 8 percent of write-ins have been challenged by Miller campaign observers but counted for Murkowski anyway, including many ballots that appear to be filled out correctly.