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| Elections in Alaska |
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The 2010 United States Senate election in Alaska took place on November 2, 2010, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Alaska, alongside 33 U.S. Senate elections in other states, elections in all states for the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as various state and local elections. The general election was preceded by primary elections which were held on August 24, 2010. Scott McAdams, the Mayor of Sitka, became the Democratic nominee; Joe Miller, an attorney and former federal magistrate, became the Republican nominee after defeating incumbent U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski.[1][2] Miller was endorsed by the Tea Party movement and former Governor Sarah Palin.[3] Murkowski announced that despite her defeat in the primary, she would run in the general election as a write-in candidate.[4][5]
Murkowski garnered more than 100,000 write-in votes in the general election, 8,000 of which were challenged by Miller for various errors including minor misspellings.[6] Even if the challenged votes were all thrown out, Murkowski still had a lead of over 2,100 votes when the counting was done.[7] The Associated Press and the Alaska GOP called the race in Murkowski's favor on November 17, and Murkowski proclaimed herself the winner on November 18.[6][8] Miller did not concede the race and instead filed legal challenges which stopped the Alaska Division of Elections from certifying Murkowski as the winner.[9] On December 10, the Alaska Superior Court in Juneau rejected Miller's State law claims, ruling that Alaska statutes and case law do not require perfect spelling on write-in ballots if voter intent is clear. The Superior Court judge also dismissed Miller's claims of vote fraud as based on speculation.[7][10] Miller took his appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court, citing a provision in the Alaska election statute that says there shall be "no exceptions" to the rules for counting ballots, and arguing that therefore, all ballots with misspellings or other deviations should be thrown out. The court heard oral arguments on December 17.[11] Miller also had a pending case in federal court[9] raising U.S. constitutional claims that the Elections and the Due Process Clauses were violated by state election authorities; the federal court could consider the claims once Miller's State court options were exhausted.[9][12]
On December 30, 2010, Alaska state officials certified Lisa Murkowski as the winner of the election, making her only the second U.S. Senate candidate since the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to win election via write-in and defeat candidates with ballot access, after Strom Thurmond in 1954.[13] On December 31, Miller announced at a news conference in Anchorage that he was conceding.[14] Murkowski thus became the first person since 1970 to win election to the Senate with under 40% of the vote.[15]
- ^ Sean Cockerham (August 31, 2010). "It's another Tea Party win as Alaska's Murkowski concedes". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on September 1, 2010. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ "Primary Election Information". State of Alaska, Division of Elections. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
- ^ Cockerham, Sean (April 7, 2009). "Palin to back Murkowski in 2010". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
- ^ Bohrer, Becky (September 18, 2010). "Murkowski mounting write-in bid for Alaska Senate". Associated Press. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
Murkowski faces tough odds with her write-in candidacy. She has lost support from members within the Republican establishment, who are backing the Republican nominee, Joe Miller.
- ^ McCormick, John (September 18, 2010). "Murkowski Says She Will Run as Write-In Candidate in Senate Race in Alaska". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
- ^ a b Seattle Times news services (November 17, 2010). "Murkowski triumphs in Alaska Senate race: Alaska's Murkowski appears to be first write-in candidate to win Senate since 1954". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
- ^ a b Cockerham, Sean (December 10, 2010). "Judge rules against Miller in Senate suit". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on December 14, 2010. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
- ^ AP staff reporter (November 17, 2010). "AP: Murkowski Wins Alaska Senate Race". NPR. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 6, 2010.
- ^ a b c "Federal Judge Halts Certification of Alaska Senate Election". Fox News. Associated Press. November 19, 2010.
- ^ Forgey, Pat (December 10, 2010). "Court rejects Miller's election challenge". Juneau Empire. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
- ^ Catanese, David (December 13, 2010). "Miller appeals to Supreme Court". Politico.
- ^ Richard L. Hasen (November 11, 2010). "Alaska's Big Spelling Test: How strong is Joe Miller's argument against the Leeza Markovsky vote?". Slate.
- ^ "Murkowski certified Senate election winner: 2010 Alaska U.S. Senate election | adn.com". December 30, 2010. Archived from the original on January 1, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ^ Bohrer, Becky (December 31, 2010). "Miller says he's ending legal fight, conceding". Associated Press. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
- ^ "Murkowski Could Become 1st US Senator with Three Plurality Victories". Smart Politics. October 11, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.