Review of Alaska Senate Write-in Ballots to Begin

JUNEAU, Alaska — Election officials plan to begin poring over more than 92,500 write-in ballots in the Alaska Senate race, in spite of a federal lawsuit challenging the count.

Republican nominee Joe Miller sued Tuesday to prevent the state from using discretion in determining voter intent on write-in ballots. But Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who oversees Alaska elections, says the count will go forward Wednesday as planned.

Miller's GOP rival, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, mounted a write-in campaign after losing the August primary.

Election law calls for write-in ballots to have the oval filled in and either the candidate's last name or name as it appears on a declaration of candidacy written in. But election officials say they'll use discretion when it comes to misspellings or variations of Murkowski's name.