Legislature Working to Clarify Write-In Law

Casey Kelly, KTOO – JuneauThe Alaska Legislature wants to ensure voter intent takes precedent when counting write-in ballots.The issue was raised last fall when failed U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller sued the state over the counting of write-in ballots for Senator Lisa Murkowski. Miller argued the state was violating its own election law by counting ballots with minor misspellings of Murkowski’s name. State and federal courts disagreed, but judges described the law as inconsistent and recommended changing it.Legislation to clarify the law had a first hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Tuesday.Download Audio (MP3)