Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwall released the findings of a review of state election laws and proceedings on Friday, in the wake of the 2010 senatorial race contested by Republican candidate Joe Miller.
The report recommends a number of changes to election proceedings, but notes in the findings that “perhaps the single most important finding in the review is that no change in procedure or state law recommended would have changed the outcome of the 2010 General Election.”
Last fall, Joe Miller filed a lawsuit over the results of the race and Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s win, after she lost the Republican primary to Miller but managed to win the general election through an historic write-in campaign. Murkowski wound up winning the race by 10,400 votes, with more than 2,000 of those votes uncontested by the Miller campaign.
Among Miller’s arguments was that the Alaska Division of Elections had violated state law by counting misspelled ballots as votes for Murkowski. The DOE had counted misspelled votes if “voter intent” could be discerned from the ballot, but Miller said that this violated state law, which stipulates that write-in votes can only be counted “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.” In his suit, Miller argued that meant spelling must be exact. He also claimed some of those misspelled votes could have even been protest votes against Murkowski, who waged an expensive ad campaign to make sure voters spelled her name right.
Miller also claimed at the time that there were numerous instances of voter fraud and voter intimidation at polling places, which the report addresses by recommending that election workers receive more comprehensive training and instructions on how to improve ballot security.
The review of election laws recommends that the state amend the Alaska State Statue to clarify how to count write-in votes, while “allowing the director of elections to disregard misspellings or other minor variations in the form of a candidate’s name if the intention of the voter can be ascertained.”
“None of the changes in statute or procedure suggested by our review would have changed the results of the 2010 election,” said Lt. Gov. Treadwell. “They will, however, respond to the concerns of Alaska voters and streamline procedures in the future. Alaskans can be confident that their voices and votes were heard and accounted for.”
Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said in a statement that while some of the recommended changes are positive, “one issue that still needs addressed [sic], in our view, is the standard used in determining voter intent. While we understand the motivation for adopting voter intent as the law, its application remains problematic (including a failure to inspire public confidence) without clear guidelines.”
The full report here, via KTUU.com.
