Murkowski Widens Lead in Alaska - Wall Street Journal

Sen. Lisa Murkowski appeared to hold enough of a lead over Joe Miller Tuesday evening to win the Alaska Senate race, with a 2,247-vote lead even without counting misspelled votes that could be challenged in court.

Getty Images Sen. Lisa Murkowski talks to reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday.

Ms. Murkowski launched a write-in campaign to keep her Senate seat after tea-party favorite Mr. Miller—endorsed by former Gov. Sarah Palin—beat her in the Republican primary.

With nearly all the names on write-in ballots tallied, officials had counted 100,868 votes in Ms. Murkowski's favor, compared with 90,468 votes for Mr. Miller from the Nov. 2 election, according to Alaska elections officials.

Of those 100,868 votes for Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Miller's camp has challenged 8,153 because of misspellings and other imperfections. Not counting the challenged votes, Ms. Murkowski would be left with 92,715 votes.

Mr. Miller has said in recent weeks he would move ahead with a federal lawsuit to throw out those contested ballots if doing so might give him a lead over Ms. Murkowski.

Even if a judge were to throw out the contested ballots— fewer than 1,000 ballots remain to be counted—Ms. Murkowski seems poised to win.

Election officials counted in Ms. Murkowski's favor most misspellings and other irregularities, as long as the voter's intentions seemed clear—a decision based on past Alaska elections in which voter intent was considered even if ballots were marked imperfectly.

Associated Press Observer Joe Geldhof, left, for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and observer Ivy Frye, for GOP nominee Joe Miller, closely watch the last of the write-in ballots during counting on Monday.

Mr. Miller has questioned the legality of that method, because state law says a write-in vote must include the candidate's name or last name as written on his or her paperwork, with "no exceptions." The candidate could also request a ballot recount at his own expense.

Mr. Miller's spokesman and his lawyer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Throughout the past several days, Joe Miller has said that he will not continue to contest the election if the votes don't add up," said Ms. Murkowski's campaign manager, Kevin Sweeney, in a statement. "By the end of the day tomorrow after every Alaskan vote will have been counted, we expect Mr. Miller to keep his word."

Write to Vauhini Vara at vauhini.vara@wsj.com

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