Anchorage, Alaska. November 6, 2010 — The Joe Miller for U.S. Senate Campaign is concerned that the Absentee Ballot validation process began yesterday at 10 a.m without notification to the campaign. The Miller campaign was told of the news from a Republican Party member approximately 11 a.m. yesterday who was informed of the decision that morning. In an e-mail to the Miller campaign, the Director of the Division of Elections, Gail Fenumiai, stated, “It is not the practice of the division to contact candidates or parties to notify them of the review dates,” even though the DOE’s “Election Observers’ Handbook” [version B14 (Rev 11/07), page 8] provides that the Division must “notify” the campaign “24 hours in advance the time of ballot review….”

In response to this news, Joe Miller said, “Our goal is to uphold the integrity of the voting process. Every vote that is cast correctly should be counted. All Alaskans deserve a free, open and fair election. Unfortunately, the State Division of Elections has decided to call that process into question with the constant maneuvering of dates and procedures.” Since the election Tuesday, the Miller campaign has vowed to oversee the process to its conclusion, to ensure that the voters of Alaska have their rights protected.

Miller went on to say, “The State of Alaska has a statutorily defined election process, anything or anyone that deviates from that process is unsettling. It is fundamental that the public be informed of the ballot review schedule in advance. Our democratic voting process has at its foundation the Constitution and the statutes of this state, and any manipulation of this process for the purposes of expediency or convenience compromises those principles.

Spokesman Randy DeSoto added that “we don’t know how many ballots were reviewed without fair scrutiny.”

The absentee validation is occurring across the state in various locations. It is unclear why the Miller campaign was not notified about the decision to begin validation Friday.

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The campaign remains optimistic that Joe Miller will be the next U.S. Senator from the state of Alaska.

Previous write-in campaigns in Alaska have demonstrated that as much as 7.8% of returned ballots have not met the standard to be counted as a valid vote.

As with any write-in campaign, the burden of execution rests with the candidate whose name is not on the ballot.  Candidates who mount a write-in campaign opt for an uphill battle. At this point, without a single write-in ballot counted, Lisa Murkowski has no claim on a victory.

To complicate the matter, the Division of Elections has yet to adequately explain how a ballot will be marked in favor of a candidate. The current standards are extraordinarily ambiguous.

We trust that officials will conduct the hand count with propriety and consistency.

In short, this campaign is not over!

For more information and updates from the campaign, continue to watch this website.

Murkowski will not commit to caucusing with the Republicans if elected

Anchorage, Alaska. November 1, 2010 — Senator Lisa Murkowski refuses to state for certain if she will caucus with the Republican Party if she wins re-election. Murkowski who likes to tout her willingness to “reach across the aisle” now seems willing to cross over entirely.

Yesterday, Fox News’ Greta Van Susteran asked Lisa Murkowski, “Will you caucus with the Republicans?” to which Murkowski responded, “At this point in time, absolutely…yes, ah, I believe that I’ll be with the Republicans as I was before.” Van Susteran continued: “You say, you believe, but I never thought there was any doubt.” Murkowski went on to state that she would go back with a “certain independence that comes from not being your party’s nominee.”

During a CNN interview yesterday, Senator Murkowski was also very elusive. Murkowski stated that her break from the GOP, her loss in the primary, has been “really very liberating.” The CNN story went on to say: “She skirted the issue when asked what party she would caucus with in the new Congress and said she would be returning to represent ‘Alaskan’s interest,’ instead of the Republican Party’s.”

Joe Miller, the Republican Nominee stated:

“It’s no secret to Alaskans that Senator Murkowski has been part of the out-of-control spending, big government problem in Washington, D.C. that the Democrat Party represents. Murkowski’s record speaks for itself as she has voted over 300 times with the Democrats since taking office and even joined with Senator Arlen Spector to support a job-killing cap and trade bill. Sadly, Alaskans know exactly what Murkowski’s new ‘independence’ would mean given her already left leaning record.”

Recently at the Anchorage Chamber Forum Debate when asked who she admires most in the Senate, Lisa Murkowski named two Democrats: Sen. Tom Carper and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, both of whom voted for the TARP bailouts, last year’s $787 billion stimulus bill, and ObamaCare earlier this year.

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