(UPDATED) Senate write-in candidates flood Division of Elections
Posted by Alaska_Politics
Posted: October 28, 2010 - 4:32 pm
From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --
In a movement one pro-Sarah Palin website is calling “Operation Alaska Chaos,” at least 100 people filed paperwork Thursday to register as write-in candidates in the U.S. Senate election, according to the Division of Elections.
A stream of would-be senators filtered through the elections office in Midtown Anchorage late in the day, many saying the effort is meant to protest an order by the Alaska Supreme Court on Wednesday allowing a list of write-in candidates to be shown to voters who ask for assistance.
The court action is expected to aid Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s write-in bid and amounts to electioneering by the state, say supporters of Republican nominee Joe Miller. The idea of a mass registration is to create a long list of potential write-in choices and make it harder for voters to find Murkowski’s name.
“(Murkowski) should have ran harder before the primary. And she didn’t. And she lost,” said Veronica Keanaaina of Eagle River, who signed up as a candidate in protest.
Hers was one of 56 Senate write-in applications the Anchorage elections office received in person or by fax in just 45 minutes late Thursday afternoon, said election clerk Raymond McAndrews.
KFQD 750 AM radio host Dan Fagan, a Miller backer, urged voters to sign up in an act of “civil disobedience” — defying what he calls an illegal effort by the state.
“Rush on over there before 5 o’clock and register as a write-in candidate. Especially if your last name is Murkowski. That would really help the cause,” Fagan told listeners Thursday afternoon.