Regardless of how Alaska Superior Court Judge William Carey ruled Friday in Senate Republican candidate Joe Miller’s challenge of the state of Alaska’s criteria for counting write-in ballots, it won’t be the end of the prolonged battle over the results of the November election.

If Carey’s ruling goes against Miller, he’ll likely appeal to the state Supreme Court, said one observer. And if the ruling is favorable to Alaska, the state would have to go back to the U.S,. District Court and petition it to lift the injunction barring it from certifying the election results, which show incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to be the apparent winner of the election.

“Expect the ruling to be in the state’s favor,” the observer said. “There are not enough votes out there for Miller to get the majority.” Given the time difference between Alaska and Washington, DC, a ruling from Carey was not expected until late Friday at the earliest.

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, Alaska’s junior senator, has called on Miller to drop his legal challenge to the results of the November election. Begich, a Democrat, said the drawn-out court suit, which he believes is virtually certain to fail, could deny Alaska full representation in the Senate when the 112th Congress resumes in early January.

“It is time for Joe Miller to put Alaska interests ahead of personal ambition and allow the state of Alaska to certify Lisa Murkowski as the winner,” Begich said. Failure to certify the election results would prevent Murkowski from being sworn into office on Jan. 3 and could cause her to lose her seniority in the Senate.

Alaska would be left with only one senator — Begich. A seniority loss could take Murkowski from her current rank of 43rd to 100th. And she could lose her position as ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“It’s vital that Alaska have both senators putting our unique needs first and fighting for our state. Without both senators, Alaska’s interests will be at risk on critical issues from energy development to job creation and reduction of the national debt in a way that fair to Alaskans,” Begich said.

Murkowski waged a fierce write-in campaign after losing to Miller in the Republican primary election in August (see NGI, Sept. 13). Murkowski declared victory in late November with a more than 10,000-vote lead over Miller, of which 8,159 ballots were challenged by the Miller camp (see NGI, Nov. 22).

The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska has enjoined certification of the election results until the legal claims filed in state Superior Court are resolved. In state court, Miller is challenging those votes where Murkowski’s name was misspelled, yet were still counted in her favor. Miller argues that if Murkowski’s name was misspelled on a write-in ballot or deviated in any way from the name appearing on her declaration of candidacy, that ballot should be tossed out.

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