Alaska’s Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell has ordered “strict enforcement of the rules governing confidentiality of the voter process” following allegations from Joe Miller’s campaign that Sen. Lisa Murkowski supporters were trying to influence the ballot count in Alaska’s drawn-out GOP primary for U.S. Senate.
A first count of absentee ballots in the razor-close primary began today, and Murkowski made up ground right away with a few hundred votes, according to tweets from Alaska-based reporters. The last count had Miller leading Murkowski by 1,668 votes, and the tweets suggested the senator gained at least 300 when counting began today.
Campbell responded to Miller complaints with a promise that his office has initiated a “full review.”
“Once the review has been completed, if misconduct is found, appropriate action will be taken. In the meantime, ballots and voter information maintained within the Division of Elections are secure,” Campbell said in a statement.
Campbell said it was not necessary for state troopers to guard the ballots as requested by Miller’s attorney because there was breach of security. But Campbell did say that the “actions of the observer are a little frustrating,” according to the Anchorage newspaper. Campbell said the Murkowski observer violated election rules by texting in the ballot room and trying to bring in a bag, the paper reported.
But Miller claimed to supporters in an email today that Campbell concluded there “was ‘monkey business’ at ballot count.” “Yesterday, Campbell concluded that there were indeed irregularities by a Murkowski observer at the Wasilla ballot observation room.
Miller’s campaign said it applauded Campbell’s decision to post assistant attorneys general at ballot counting rooms.
