Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
Joe Miller said today he plans to announce by Friday whether he’ll continue his legal fight over the Alaska Senate race.
Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto says Miller is weighing his options.
Miller can appeal Tuesday’s federal court decision. He has said he’s willing to go to the U.S. Supreme Court but is taking legal steps one at a time.Anchorage attorney Tim McKeever says Miller faces an uphill battle to get his appeal heard. McKeever is one of the lawyers who represented Senator Lisa Murkowski in the election litigation. He says there is strong preference in federal law to allow state courts to decide issues of state law. In this case the state superior court and the Alaska Supreme Court ruled against Miller as did federal district judge Ralph Beistline.
McKeever says there does not now appear to be any remaining challenges that could block Murkowski being certified.
McKeever says other states have dealt with write-in ballot and voter intent concerns, but he says Miller’s case was unusually complicated because he initially filed in federal court to address state issues.
Along the way, Miller attempted to raise other concerns that he alleged were examples of possible fraudulent voting or a lack of proper oversight in security as ballots moved from the state to the precincts and back. McKeever says the state has a comprehensive system in place to monitor and secure the ballots from printing to counting.
McKeever says although Miller has the right to appeal to the 9th Circuit, he thinks overturning the current decision is unlikely.
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