JUNEAU, Alaska — A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by Republican Joe Miller and lifted a stay on certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate election, clearing the way for incumbent Lisa Murkowski to officially be declared the winner.
The rulings by U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline mean Alaska state officials will certify the November election results Thursday. That will allow Murkowski to be sworn in when the new term of Congress begins next week and make her the first U.S. Senate candidate since 1954 to win with a write-in campaign.
“This is the best possible outcome for us,” her campaign manager, Kevin Sweeney, said Tuesday.
Miller, a Tea Party favorite who defeated Murkowski in Alaska’s GOP primary only to be confronted with her more- energetic November write-in campaign, could still appeal. He has said he’s willing to go to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary — and that one of his main goals is to ensure there’s an accurate vote tally. But he also has said he is taking his legal steps one at a time.
He said Tuesday his legal team believes its claims are supported by the “clear language of the Election Clause” of the U.S. Constitution.
Beistline had been expected to lift his stay on certifying the election this week, but his decision to toss out Miller’s claims — a day after Miller filed them — was more surprising.
Miller initially sued in federal court, but Beistline determined the state courts were in a better position, at least initially, to decide who had won. Beistline barred the state from certifying results until Miller’s claims had been addressed, and he allowed Mil ler to argue any outstanding federal issues before him after the state Supreme Court last week refused to overturn results favoring Murkowski.
In federal court filings Monday, Miller argued state officials had violated provisions of the Constitution in their handling of the election and write-in ballots. But Beistline said Tuesday that claims made by Miller either didn’t rise to constitutional violations or didn’t merit his second-guessing the high court’s determinations.
Official results released Tuesday by the Division of Elections showed Murkowski with 101,091 votes and Miller with 90,839.
