Huge challenge, tricky name

When your name is not on the ballot but people have to write it in on the paper you would wish to be called something simpler than Murkowski. Too many letters in Murkowski for people to get wrong if the electoral officials decide to be absolutely literal about it; or if the officials are not sticklers for complete accuracy there is always the prospect that a judge will be.

Which is what the US Senator from Alaska Lisa Murkowski is confronting as she attempts to pull off one of the most amazing political victories in her country’s history. Having lost the primary election to become the Republican candidate to the Sarah Palin backed Joe Miller, Ms Murkowski decided to battle on at the main election as a write-in candidate. And to the surprise of most political pundits she trumped Miller by more than 10,000 votes, or 4.5 percent of the total cast. Now Mr Miller is scurrying to the courts crying foul because elections officials violated state law by interpreting write-in ballots as votes for Murkowski despite spelling and handwriting mistakes. There are 8,159 of those votes and Miller claims that even some of the votes that were written in correctly for Murkowski may be fraudulent.

Reuters reports that Miller is trying to raise money to continue his court battle to overturn the election results. Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican and Tea Party leader, is seeking donations through his Senate Conservatives Fund. DeMint’s website reported it has raised $152,200 to date for the “Joe Miller Recount Fund.”