Live Feed of Alaska Write-in Count (Mispellings common)

http://www.360north.org/livefeed.php ^ | 11/10/2010 | None

[rumrunner]

Joe Miller is contesting at least 10% of all write-in ballots. Misspellings tend to be in the first syllable of Lisa Murkowski's name- some wrote "Mercowski" or "Mircowski."

Live feed: Live Feed

News on the mispellings from Anchorage Daily news:

News on mispellings

[savedbygrace]

How do elections officials know that the voter didn’t intend to vote for an old family friend named Herbert Mercowski, but didn’t realize the write-in vote had to be for someone on the official list of write-in names (even though posting such a list inside the polling place violates Alaska elections law)?

[txhurl]

Plus, she handed out rubber bracelets with her name on it.

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Pens with her name on it, too.

[longtermmemmory]

Alaska Law is very very specific, the name MUST be spelled correctly and the law says no exceptions.

[longtermmemmory]

if we toss out the law then those miller write in votes should count too.

[txhurl]

So where are we? Between my job, an emergency cabin remodeling project I can’t keep up. Arrgh.

Did Joe get the vote count stopped?

[txhurl]

Damn

AP: Federal court denies Joe Miller’s request to immediately stop write-in ballot counts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2625128/posts

[longtermmemmory]

so the lesson is to run a sham candidate with a name which is spelled close to the write in candidate smith vs smyth.

[BenKenobi]

Well I don’t see how if you can’t spell it why your vote should count.

I’d say this if people wrote in Miler too.

[Revel]

I know how you feel. I have never been able to get the answer to that question either. He is on that list and yet he is not on “the list”.

[af_vet_rr]

Some people misspelled her name intentionally because they hate her guts.

Their intent is not to vote for her.

If that's the case, it's pretty retarded, since it's clear that Miller is going to need every single vote he can get. From what I heard a few minutes ago, out of 7,000 or so write-in ballots, 88% were correctly spelled Murkowski, with another 6-7% being contested. That's a good enough sample to say that Miller is in big trouble.

A deliberately misspelled ballot may not count for her, but it's damn sure not going to count for Miller. Anybody dumb enough to misspell her name as a protest is not doing Miller any favors.

[txhurl]

No, apparently we’ve coalesced on phonetics now.

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There have been questions from the ballot observers about the criteria Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai is using to rule on the Miller campaign challenges of Murkowski ballots.

Here’s what Fenumiai told me:

“If I can pronounce the name by the way it’s spelled, that’s the standard I’m using.”

Read more: http://community.adn.com/adn/node/154249#ixzz14vXiGwbR

[butterdezillion]

Good Lord! Help us please! Let’s hope she doesn’t have a lisp and isn’t dyslexic.

We have totally lost the rule of law. This is going to end up in court; there’s no way it can’t, when the rule of law is being totally destroyed.

We need to find somebody who misspelled Murkowski’s name because they didn’t like any of the candidates - a protest vote - and have them sue because by having their vote count for Murkowski they were DISENFRANCHISED! Throw it back in the judicial faces.

Murkowski has made it abundantly clear that her intent all along has been to disenfranchise the primary voters who chose Miller over her.

[txhurl]

This is going to end up in SCOTUS. I have to go hunt for the supporting data, statues, laws and links on FR within the last couple days.

[af_vet_rr]

Around 90% of the write-in ballots have been spelled properly so far, with around 7,600 ballots counted. If that holds, with the addition to the mail-ins, Murkowski has it in the bag even if the misspellings are tossed out. It won't end up in court because she can win without the misspellings.

As for anybody protesting by misspelling her name, that's just dumb - Miller needs every single vote he can get, and a misspelled Murkowski protest vote is not a vote for Miller.

[butterdezillion]

I wouldn’t expect Miller voters to protest by spelling Murkowski’s name wrong. I would expect people who are disgusted with ALL the candidates - and that could be a lot of people.

But the bigger issue here is the rule of law. And that is what we can’t afford to lose. Do you think that is piddly?

[txhurl]

If his Absentee vote total (out of the 31,000 Absentee Ballots) ADDED TO HIS 67,500 VOTES exceeds the 81,000 uncounted write-in ballots, then it’s over.

[Kozak]

Yeah, typing ahead of my brain ...

[nikos1121]

hahahahaaaa youre right...screw them...they can jump into the ocean....

[af_vet_rr]

If his Absentee vote total (out of the 31,000 Absentee Ballots) ADDED TO HIS 67,500 VOTES exceeds the 81,000 uncounted write-in ballots, then it’s over.

A lot of those are from rural and Native areas, which lean heavily left. You can guess who they are going to vote for.

[no dems]

I’m thinking that after the Absentee ballots were counted, there were like 91,000 Write-in Ballots total; not 81,000.

If I’m wrong, please tell me.