It seems that in the Alaska Senatorial race, the Republican candidate, Joe Miller, is trying very hard to have all ballots rejected where the name of his write-in opponent, Lisa Murkowski, is misspelled. And according to at least one other blogger, he has Alaska law on his side. I'll get to whether Alaska law says that Miller is right in a bit. But even if it does, Miller is a sore loser, who has about as much of a conscience as Barack Obama does. (Remember how Obama used the nuances of Illinois law to rule three opponents off the ballot so he could run unopposed for the State Senate?) If I were Joe Miller, sitting in the Senate because a few people misspelled "Murkowski," (and it's pretty telling that I bet nobody has ever misspelled Joe Miller's name!) when they actually meant to vote for her, I think my conscience would haunt me all six years of my term. But Joe Miller, I guess, has no conscience.
Now what does Alaska law say? "(11) A vote for a write-in candidate, other than a write-in vote for governor and lieutenant governor, shall be counted if the oval is filled in for that candidate and if the name, as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy, of the candidate or the last name of the candidate is written in the space provided." Note that, as written, the phrase "as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy" in that statute seems to modify the first occurrence of the word "name." So the way I read this statute is that "last name" is not qualified by the phrase "as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy." The blog post I cited disagrees. But I think English grammar is on my side.
It is to be hoped that enough people spell Murkowski's name correctly that her win is clear even to those who insist that the law must be construed as that blogger believes it should be. But if not, we may end up having a court case to determine what the law means!
Now what does Alaska law say? "(11) A vote for a write-in candidate, other than a write-in vote for governor and lieutenant governor, shall be counted if the oval is filled in for that candidate and if the name, as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy, of the candidate or the last name of the candidate is written in the space provided." Note that, as written, the phrase "as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy" in that statute seems to modify the first occurrence of the word "name." So the way I read this statute is that "last name" is not qualified by the phrase "as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy." The blog post I cited disagrees. But I think English grammar is on my side.
It is to be hoped that enough people spell Murkowski's name correctly that her win is clear even to those who insist that the law must be construed as that blogger believes it should be. But if not, we may end up having a court case to determine what the law means!
3 comments:
Exposing Jim Demint - http://jimdemints-southcarolina.blogspot.com/
Matthew 7:3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Jim DeMint’s policies don’t event work in his own state; how on earth will they work in the rest of the country.
Please read the blog DeMint doesn’t want you to read http://jimdemints-southcarolina.blogspot.com/
1) According to the US Census Bureau, Jim DeMint's South Carolina ranks 41st out of the 50 states in household income.
2) Jim DeMint’s South Carolina claims some of the highest unemployment in the nation even though its corporate tax rates rank among the lowest in the nation at 5%
3) Jim DeMint's South Carolina 46th in health rankings
First of all, DeMint is not the one who runs South Carolina. Blaming state policies on a U. S. Senator is unreasonable.
In any case, all the Southern states, not just South Carolina, are particularly poor, and have been ever since the Civil War. Again, blaming DeMint makes no sense.
I wonder why this comment was attached to this post, though. What is the connection to Joe Miller's challenging Lisa Murkowski's write-in votes, other than DeMint supports Miller?
I just added your web page to my favorites. I like reading your posts. Thanks!
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