Voting Irregularities Reported in Alaska Early Voting
Reports are already being received in Alaska of voting irregularities at early voting booths, particularly as it relates to the Senate campaign of Lisa Murkowski. This is a call to anyone who is early voting or who finds themselves in the area.
Please check the booth for any evidence of campaigning. In Homer, apparently, reports were received that each booth had a written list of the write-in candidates posted. This is electioneering, and absolutely illegal.
If you see anything irregular when you are early voting, please take a picture of it.
Let us know ASAP if you see anything in a booth or at the polling place itself like signs right outside the building, stickers in the booth or at the polling place, or buttons or bracelets left behind in the booth. All of these things are illegal.
If you discover something illegal, you can ask for these illegal things to be removed. Please also keep track of who you talked to at the polling place, and whether or not they were willing to take down the illegal item(s).
HERE are the early voting sites.
*UPDATE – The posted write-in candidates came from a judge clerk who apparently made a bad call and fixed the mistake as soon as they realized the problem. If I get any further details I’ll let you know. The main point is to keep irregularities whether intentioned or innocent mistakes from happening. Thanks to the voter who noticed the problem and made it known. There are sure to be legal challenges in this election, but we need to keep them to a minimum if we can.
Contact Scott McAdams headquarters and send information to leslieridle@gmail(dot)com and you can also send them to me at akmuckraker@yahoo(dot)com. Thank you for your efforts to keep this election honest.
alaska needs to have ‘pole watchers’ as they do down south.my husband was a poll watcher during a presidential election (non-partisan)& did everything from hang at polling booths;give people rides to the polls;explain to people who didn’t speak english what the sample ballot looked like;and provide chairs, cookies & water for the sick & elderly(everyone got cookies & water) & how to fillout a ballot.My cousin did it too.Both my cousin flew on their own dimes to other states than where they lived.
Scott no showed on Alaska Day in Sitka. I am a resident of Sitka,& Scott Mc.was the only candidate not represented in the parade.Tea Party;miller;parnell; Lisa; all had some kind of vehicle,leaflets etc.Bonehead move Scott. People noticed, this a small town, his home town.Little things like that (especially in an area that has a high liberal base),is just bad politics.Not a good time to get complacent.Southeast can help change the election (murkowski was raised in Southeast & does have a following here).I am one of the scared people who would rather have Murkowski than Miller.it is not true that she & miller share the same ideology:he doesn’t give a rip about people (especially the people in the rural regions, Native Alaskans & Southeast residents,& is a bully & blatantly un-ethical, & Murkowski does care about these issues.Palin HATED Southeast ak.& abandoned the Natives; & would not deign to step foot in Juneau (the capitol), another town with a large liberal base.
How about an occassional shout out for Dianne Benson, a female, liberal, Native Alaskan, raised in Southeast,who will advocate for human & civil rights FOR ALL,& whose son returned from Iraq permanently disabled.
None of the candidates speak directly to Native issues.Native Alaskans are a powerful voting block, not to mention the founders of this state & need support & help.
Three cheers for Diane Bensen–someone who really cares about people and really puts herself out there to back up her beliefs.
McAdams also. Hope you’ll back him too, kiksadi50. Sometimes we folks on the ground have to pick up a little slack because McAdams can’t be everywhere at once (though sometimes it seems like he is). He’s working dang hard and doing his best–just like Diane does.
APRN reported that the Division of Election sent the list out and said to “make it available to voters if they have questions.” Huh? Sounds like an ethics complaint could be filed against Sean Parnell’s Department of Elections.
What a year for dirty tricks!!
I live in Homer, wouldn’t surprise me that some of Miller’s supporters would be leaving the list or other trinkets in the voting booths. Like any of the tea party candidates they will do anyhting to win, They have a lot of money invested in buying this senate seat for themselves.
It seems that Miller has become the odd man out in this race, even Lisa seems to be focusing on Scott as the guy to beat.
Lisa needs to go public and say wearing a discreet bracelet is not acceptable, nor is leaving her name on any thing is legal.
but…but…but…how’re ya gonna win if ya don’t cheat? (Bubble over Palin’s head.)
Methinks the comments on here sound like the over-hyped Black Panther hysteria in Philly a couple years ago.
Still at it, eh, akiceman? Not working.
AkIceman: Personally I don’t think this is hype and there’s certainly nothing wrong with being vigilant about the voting process. Given the peculiar circumstances of this election everyone is going to have to be eagle-eyed about suspicious goings on. No, we don’t need to go all conspiracy theory but I would not be surprised to see more of these shenanigans going on around the state.
I agree vigilance is good – but comments like “Lisa and crew aren’t going to hold back. “, “It seems that Lisa isn’t aware of electioneering rules” and “a typical Miller supporter hoping to rile feathers” are no different then the crap we heard from the right during the 2008 election. (Remember how the black panthers and ACORN stole the election?)
While trying to tamp down unsubstantiated or exaggerated opinions is a worthy mission, protecting the integrity of the voting process is infinitely more worthy.
Vigilance is good….but hypervigilance is better. Keep it up, Mudpups!
I think Miller & Co. have given us plenty of reasons to be at cautions whenever they are involved with anything that has to do with securing the reigns of power within the government. I think comparing this to the right’s screaming about Black Panthers and ACORN is a bit over the top. Just my opinion, of course.
I utilized Lisa’s own remark, which I quoted from the actual ADN news article. That remark is enough to give a resonable person pause when considering electioneering rules, which I take very seriously.
And it is a far cry from “manufacturing a crisis where none existed” such as what the GOP did to set up and defame ACORN.
Aargh. Obviously, I don’t have enough popcorn.
Colorado early voting/ballot drop off started today, and with a variety of nutcases on the ballot, plus a real possibility that the GOP could become a minority party for 2012 (long story about the Tea Party-approved GOP candidate), we might have “irregularities” of our own.
I would not doubt that Miller and friends would do this nor would I doubt from reading the ADN that Lisa’s supporters would do this if they thought they could get away with it. If ya read the post ya saw that it was reported at the time and taken down right away so I doubt it was reported to Scott per SA
I just read a remark in the ADN story “McAdams, Murkowski debate without Miller” there with this quote:
” [McAdams] noted that other well-known Alaska politicians had failed in past write-in bids but Murkowski said they didn’t run in the Internet age — or have wristbands spelling out their names that voters can discreetly wear into the voting booth.”
It seems that Lisa isn’t aware of electioneering rules either, or she feels that bending the rules is o.k., re: her use of the word “descreetly”.
In all fairness, this isn’t a spelling test. You can take whatever notes you want into the booth. You just can’t leave them for others. In other news I heard that Joe the Tax Cheat is having all the pens replaced so that they only work to make ovals…
Nah-ah, his special pens use disappearing ink. He must have spilled some on himself last night.
“discreetly” I’m sure was enough for the Lisites to run rampant with ways to get her elected. Shame on you Lisa, shame, shame. Put you big girl panties on and get with the program. Play right and legal, or else methinks you and Miller will be vying for dogcatcher next year.
Write in Leasa in every choice except the U.S.Senate choice ,which any sane person would pick McAdams,of course.Too bad dogcatcher won’t be up for election this time. Also too thank you “Alaskans Standing Together “for sending me a lovely form to mail in to get my absentee voting ballot.. However I won’t be able to follow the “what to do when your ballot arrives” instructions as deer in the headlites lady is not on the ballot but Scott McAdams is ,so it’ll be so much easier for me to just fill in the oval, no pesky spelling contests for me!
I’ve seen enough rabin Lisa fans posting on ADN, I have no doubt that it’s someone from Camp Lisa. They don’t know the laws, but that doesn’t matter.
I’m writing only in regards to Texas election law, and how it may/may not apply to Alaska election law. When we have write-in positions, it’s because there’s a certified write-in candidate on the ballot, having met requirements imposed by the Texas Secretary of State. Those valid names are posted in the booth as a reference for the voter.
A voter can write in any name, but only the names of certified write-in candidates are accepted as valid, including mis-spellings of those names, so Murkovsky would count as Murkowski.
Kasperski is blocking my browsing of Alaska’s Sec State pages at
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/folioproxy.asp?url=http://wwwjnu01.legis.state.ak.us/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/stattx09/query=*/doc/{t7026} but maybe someone can find how the Alaska regs vary or resemble Texas election law.
Keep the pressure up folks, we’re big fans of the Mud Flats down here.
I don’t think Lisa would support this. ANYONE who thinks they can muddy her would do this. Lisa does need to issue something stating that she is furious over what happened with Joe’s blackboots and that they are tarnishing her party, as well as insist that people follow the law about election sites.
This is a pretty serious allegation. How reliable is this report? Who sets up the voting booths? I HIGHLY doubt that Lisa Murkowski operatives deliberately posted lists of write-in candidates. Any why would anyone report this action to Scott McAdams and not the Director of Elections???
It appears that they did not. Not suggesting that the Murkowski campaign is doing anything untoward. Uninformed enthusiasm will likely be the problem. But these things need to be reported.
Will the written lists be used as evidence against Lisa? Will anything even happen to her for doing this? It’s blatantly illegal, and yet I bet she’ll get away with it.
I would imagine that unless they have proof that an official Murkowski campaign official or volunteer left printed lists with her name on them she will not be penalized in any way. It doesn’t make it any less despicable, of course, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there is some sort of organized effort to distribute these lists. Lisa may not be ‘aware’ of it, but I’m sure it is a strategy at some level within her campaign operations. Or there are just some really zealous Murky supporters out there who are perpetrating these acts on their own, which is entirely possible as well.
Or it could be a typical Miller supporter hoping to rile feathers, but I doubt it as it still benefits Lisa more in the end. Either way it’s all highly illegal and needs to be stopped.
Rethugs are getting desperate. Shannyn just posted the following on Facebook:
“Breaking: AFN cancels Senate forum. Leadership doesn’t want members to hear McAdams talk about tribal sovereignty & issues.”
There is a thread on that topic that just posted, please comment there. Thanks!
I’ll check Homer City Hall for electioneering when I go to vote for Scott McAdams today.
Could you elaborate on these “reports”?
A McAdams supporter discovered printed lists of write-in candidates posted inside the voting booths in Homer. They were subsequently removed after the complaint.
Simple solution. Everyone just fill in the oval next to Scott McAdams.
Well VanFlea can’t be everywhere people, but I bet he is gonna charge for it.
Ah yes, republicans eating themselves alive… again.
Lisa and crew aren’t going to hold back.
Hold on, we’re in for quite a ride!