Judge rules against Miller in Alaska Senate race

Judge William Carey's ruling all but ends Miller's hopes of getting relief in state court. Miller can appeal to the state Supreme Court, and his spokesman said he was mulling the option, but Carey cited past decisions by the high court in his ruling. The judge said his decision to throw out Miller's lawsuit wouldn't take effect until Tuesday to allow time for an appeal. Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said there are still outstanding issues "in terms of wanting to get a true and accurate count, and we don't feel like we're there yet." Murkowski called on Miller to concede, telling The Associated Press: "It's time to end this. It's time to say that the election is over." The ruling marks a victory for Murkowski, who sought to become the first U.S. Senate candidate since 1954 to win as a write-in. Senators are scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 5, and the legal dispute has thrown into doubt whether someone from this race will be included. Murkowski's attorneys have argued that her seniority is at risk if she isn't sworn in then. Miller's attorneys had asked Carey to strictly enforce a state law calling for write-in ballots to have the oval filled in, and either the candidate's last name or the name as it appears on the declaration of candidacy written in. Miller attorney Michael Morley contended it wasn't the order of the words but the spelling that mattered. The spelling is what makes a name a name, he told Carey. Carey said in his ruling that Miller's interpretation of the law was "inconsistent." Miller also raised questions about precincts where election workers failed to mark whether they'd gotten identification of voters and ballots with similar-looking signatures. While the latter could have been due to voters asking for and receiving legally acceptable help filling out ballots, Morley argued these questions merited further scrutiny. Carey found the claims "unsupported." "Nowhere does Miller provide facts showing a genuine issue of fraud or election official malfeasance," the judge wrote. "Instead, the majority of the problematic statements included in the affidavits are inadmissible hearsay, speculation and occasional complaints of sarcasm expressed by DOE (Division of Elections) workers." There were also more than 2,000 ballots that were not counted toward Murkowski's tally and challenged by her observers. Those included ballots in which the ovals weren't filled in but Murkowski's name was written in, and those in which "Lisa M." was written. Murkowski's camp argued the intent of voters in those cases was to vote for Murkowski. But Carey sided with the state here, too, in saying those should not be counted for her. State officials and Murkowski's campaign have sought a speedy resolution, saying Alaska would be deprived of representation if a winner isn't sworn in with the new Congress next month. On Friday, state officials told a federal judge it would seek to have the stay he imposed on certification of the race lifted if Miller lost the state court case and did not file a speedy appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline last month kicked the case to state court and issued the stay to allow for the issues raised by Miller to be resolved.