Casey Kelly, KTOO – Juneau
As Joe Miller’s chances of winning began to slip away, campaign spin doctor Floyd Brown held his second press conference in as many days, suggesting fraud and manipulation. One of the new allegations raised by Brown was from a Miller write-in observer in Cordova who claimed to have seen several ballots for Lisa Murkowski written in the same handwriting.
“That’s why we’re going to be asking for handwriting analysis in the Cordova precinct, because we want to get to the bottom, we want to know if one person was voting multiple times, very serious charge,” Brown said.
Brown also implied manipulation on the part of Goldbelt Security, the subsidiary of Juneau’s urban Native Corporation, which has been hired by the Elections Division to guard write-in ballots.
Lieutenant Governor Craig Campbell, who oversees Alaska elections, said no fraud allegation has reached his office.
“There have been no allegations filed with the Lieutenant Governor’s office, none filed with the Division of Elections, and none filed with the Attorney General. So, if there are allegations of fraud and intimidation they probably should be filed with the proper authorities,” Campbell said.
As for the handwriting issue, Campbell said that could have been legally required voter assistance.
“I use the example of somebody with Parkinson’s disease, you know, their hand shakes but they’re fully capable of voting and they go out to the poll to vote, they may very well ask for somebody who could write legibly, would you please write the name in for me,” Campbell said. “Disabled individuals do that, and also we have that in Western Alaska and Northwestern Alaska with the language issues. So, you know, getting the similar handwriting does not necessarily indicate any issue at all other than probably our poll people are doing their job.”
Brown did not hold another press conference this weekend, though Miller himself apparently made a brief appearance at the write-in count site on Saturday.
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