Federal suit filed over election write-in list

[Blue_In_AK]

Source: Anchorage Daily News

A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of four Alaska voters over the state's providing a list of write-in candidates to voters.

The lawsuit alleges that in providing lists, the state has changed its rules for holding elections and did so without receiving the required approval of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Alaska Supreme Court decided Friday that lists could be provided in limited cases to meet the needs of voters who need help.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has mounted a high-profile write-in campaign. Plaintiffs in the federal case include supporters of Joe Miller, who beat Murkowski in the GOP primary. A state Department of Law spokesman hadn't seen the lawsuit late Saturday and couldn't immediately comment.





Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/10/30/1527583/federal-suit-filed-over-write.html

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And so it begins. It Scott McAdams doesn't win this electino outright, we're going to be in court for months.

[NV Whino]

1. I liked it a lot better

when Alaska was just that frozen state to the north that no one knew anything about.

Well, we'll cross our fingers and hope for the best. Thanks for the update.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. It's just insane up here.

The Miller and Murkowski people are TOTALLY at each other's throats. Lisa Murkowski really threw a monkey-wrench into the election with her insufferable sense of entitlement. If she had stayed out, Scott McAdams would have walked away with this.

[savalez]

3. ...effen mccain.

[Qutzupalotl]

4. That always seemed messed up.

I'm not familiar with Alaska's election laws, but can't voters write in any name they want? And if so, isn't the write-in list a gift favoring Murkowski (and the hundreds of late registrants, LOL).

[pasto76]

5. the hooplah is about the state provide lists if I read this correctly

[Qutzupalotl]

6. Sorry, edited, that's what I meant.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Yes, I've written in protest votes before,

but to be "official" a write-in candidate has to register with the Division of Elections. I'm not sure, but I would guess that gives them the legal right to ask for campaign contributions.

What makes this situation so unusual is we never had write-in lists allowed in the polling stations before. If someone asked about how to do a write-in, the poll worker could only give a generic response, not mention any names. This year all of a sudden, and at the end of the campaign season, the Division of Elections decided it was okay to have lists in the polling stations, even posted inside the curtains in one instance, and now the Supreme Court has ruled that poll workers can even help people with the spelling of Murkowski.

I'm sorry, but if they want to vote for Lisa Murkowski, they can write her name down on a piece of paper, put it in their pocket, and when they're behind the curtain pull it out and fill in the ballot, spelling it exactly right. All of this "bending" of the rules clearly appears to give an unfair advantage to Lisa over previous years' write-in candidates, and really isn't fair to the candidates who won their primaries. We can't even wear campaign buttons in the polling stations, but they can talk about how to spell Lisa's name. It is electioneering, whether they see it that way or not.

Our write-in procedures have worked just fine for 50 years. If somebody didn't like them, they should have changed the regulations before the election, not at the very last minute.

[Qutzupalotl]

8. Thanks for the local view. K&R

[syberlion]

9. I think the previous year's write in candidates have a better shot

at a law suit. It is electioneering plain and simple, however you have a highly entrenched power base and they don't want to lose 1/2 of their power base for 6 years. So they are committing out and out crimes to maintain their power base, period. And if you don't like it, well they'll take care of you with their second amendment remedy, you bet'cha!

Sad thing is, even if it got all the way to the supreme court, it's too right leaning to rule favorably for the average citizen anymore. This will expose the raw republican political machine and there will be certain repercussions, but there will still be either a tbagger or a repub in that seat for 6 years and that is ALL they care about.

I hope I am proven wrong November second, that would be a great thing to happen to that poor state. It would be like a spring thaw arriving on a land frozen by insanity.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. It's always somewhat crazy up here in politics,

but since the Palin/Murkowski feud of the past 10 years or so, things have gotten really ugly. Sarah Palin is a very nasty piece of work, and she'll do just about anything to bring Lisa Murkowski down. And, of course, Lisa plays her little games, as well. I just hope people are so tired of the family feud that they throw all of them out and elect McAdams. We get rid of the Murkowski dynasty once and for all and we rob Sarah Palin of a victory. It's a win-win.

[Pab Sungenis]

12. Not entirely true. The first election I won was by write-in.

On a whim, in a committee election in 2001, I wrote in my own name and had someone else write it in as well. Believe it or not, I won the election two votes to one.

I had to accept the position and things were tied up for over a year but I didn't have to register as a write-in candidate ahead of time.

[mopinko]

11. in illinois losers are not allowed to run write-ins.

be nice if it was like that everywhere.

[Blue_In_AK]

13. That's really a great idea,

one that my husband and I were just discussing yesterday. Lisa should not have been allowed to get back into this race. She was complacent during the primary, and she let this happen. I'll give some credence to her assertion that she was preoccupied with Ted Stevens' death and funeral, etc., just before the primary, but still if she had taken the Miller threat seriously, she would have put a litle more effort into winning.