Alaska Supreme Court reverses ban on write-in candidate lists

Hours after a judge blocked the Alaska Division of Elections' effort to give voters lists of write-in candidates, the state Supreme Court stayed his ruling, providing a boost for the campaign of incumbent U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The lists can be shown to voters who request them, the high court ruled, but candidates' party affiliation must be removed.

The court also directed the Division of Elections to attempt to segregate absentee ballots cast by voters who have seen the lists -- an apparent preparation for legal fights over whether those ballots can be counted. The court ordered briefs by Thursday on whether its stay should be permanent.

The issue is crucial for Murkowski, who launched a write-in campaign to keep her seat after Tea Party Express-backed candidate

Earlier in the day, Superior Court Judge Frank A. Pfiffner rejected the state's argument that providing a list of certified write-in candidates to voters who ask for help complies with the state's obligation to aid citizens who need assistance casting ballots.

I hope the judges will agree once they read the briefs requested later today. AK has 5 Supremes: 2 appointed by Palin, 1 by Parnell, 2 by former Rat Gov. Knowles and none by Murky's dad. Sounds good until we remember that Palin received some grief over at least one of her picks. It seems that AK is one of those states where the Gov. has to pick judicial nominees from a short list compiled by others and said others weren't supplying very good options. Thus they are only marginally their Governor's picks. If this goes wrong Palin and Parnell may not deserve the blame.

Several states have similar systems - my Iowa has since 1961 - and they are touted by self styled good government types as ways to remove partisanship from the bench. Alas several states are finding the partisanship has just moved out of site to the closed from public view judicial selection committees. Iowa's such has 11 Democrats and only one Republican and from the way the committee is chosen I don't know how we got the one. Some states have notable judicial retention votes on their ballots (IA and KS both come to mind) next week. Although voting off bad judges is desirable we really need to look at how their replacements are picked and consider fixing that process. In IA the process could put the same voter rejected judges back on the bench in spite of anything the public, or the governor, could do.

Kinky’s 15 minutes were up long ago. He’s a Dem through and through and only got fame because he played into the image of Texas that non-Texans have. It would be like a guy running for office in Chicago impersonating a James Cagney gangster. Unfortunately Fox is stupid and often has him on to represent the Texas perspective (gag). He was never a viable candidate in anything he ran for pre-TeaParty, rather just a joke candidate or a GOP protest vote magnet. Now that the TeaParty provides serious, legitimate options, Kinky is crusty and done.

LOL! Kinky was born in Chicago and stayed there until he was two. He couldn’t find work so he moved to Texas. ;o)

He is an aquaintance but i would never vote for the man and he could not possibly care less. He is much more of a humorist/songwriter/crime novelist than a politician.

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