Challenger leading in Alaska election, but he suggests fraud

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Monday her Republican rival Joe Miller may be creating doubt in the minds of Alaskans about the integrity of the voting process by ratcheting up the hyperbole about possible election fraud.

“I am really astounded that the Miller camp seems to be so paranoid of every step along the way, which is designed to ensure that every Alaska vote is counted,” Murkowski said.

Murkowski reacted after Miller said he remained concerned about how Murkowski campaign workers have contacted voters.

“The concern that I have stated before is the concern of contacting absentee voters – finding out how they voted – and then just making knee-jerk challenges to those ballots in an effort to, obviously, having more of the Joe Miller votes thrown out on technicalities,” Miller said.

Miller holds a 1,688-vote lead over incumbent Murkowski in the Republican primary.

An attorney for the Miller campaign, Thomas Van Flein, who’s also Sarah Palin’s attorney, formally asked Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell for an investigation into possible tampering by an observer for the Murkowski campaign.

In a letter, Van Flein claimed the observer at the Mat-Su Division of Elections accessed a state computer for about 20 minutes on Friday while absentee ballots were being verified, and may have copied voter information.

The Alaska Division of Elections is scheduled to begin counting many of the 25,510 absentee, questioned and early ballots today. Not all were cast in the Republican race.