Votes that misspell Lisa Murkowski's name shouldn't count as the state today tallies write-in ballots in the U.S. Senate race, Senate candidate Joe Miller said in a federal lawsuit Tuesday.
Miller is asking a judge to stop the state from making a judgment on a voter's intentions if the voter wrote in something other than "Murkowski" or "Lisa Murkowski." State law allows no leeway for other spellings, his lawsuit says.
Despite the lawsuit, the state is preparing this morning to start checking and counting the more than 92,000 write-in ballots cast in last week's election. Gail Fenumiai, the state's elections director, said she plans to start this counting at 9 a.m.
The state counted about 27,000 absentee and early votes Tuesday, according to Fenumiai, with Miller gaining on the write-in total by about 2,100 votes. At the end of the day, Miller remained 11,333 behind the write-in total.
At the beginning of the day, Miller had been trailing by 13,439 votes.
The Murkowski campaign reacted to Tuesday's lawsuit by accusing Miller of trying to toss out legitimate votes for the eight-year incumbent. "They're trying to discount as many votes as possible from Alaskans," Murkowski campaign manager Kevin Sweeney said.
Miller's lawyer, Tom Van Flein, is asking a federal judge for a hearing this afternoon.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski thanks supporters Tuesday in Anchorage. It's unclear if she will be heading back to Washington next year.Votes for write-in candidates outnumbered those for Joe Miller and Scott McAdamsSen. Lisa Murkowski is one of 161 eligible write-in candidates"Lisa Murkowski has no claim on a victory," Miller campaign saysAlaska's count of write-in votes expected to begin next week in Senate race
(CNN) -- An unyielding and exuberant Sen. Lisa Murkowski thanked her supporters on election night as she appeared headed to a once-improbable victory in Alaska's Senate contest.
Just two months ago, the incumbent Republican conceded her party's primary to little-known Tea Party-backed Joe Miller. Shortly after, Murkowski dove into the middle of Republican infighting by launching a write-in bid to retain her seat.
Party leaders criticized her decision. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who endorsed Miller, called Murkowski's revived campaign "a futile effort on her part." The last U.S. senator to win on a write-in campaign was Strom Thurmond in 1954.
"They said it couldn't be done," Murkowski told CNN as the results came in late Tuesday. "We looked at that, and we said if it can be done anywhere, it can be done in Alaska, and let's prove the rest of the country wrong."
Aware of the intricacies of a write-in win, Murkowski cautioned that "we're not done yet. There's still a lot out more there; we know that."
The votes for write-in candidates outnumbered those for both Miller and Scott McAdams, the Democratic candidate.
But the outcome of the general election might not be known for days because officials need to determine which write-in votes actually went to Murkowski.
She was one of 161 people who filed the paperwork necessary to qualify as a write-in candidate, according to the Alaska Division of Elections.
As of Wednesday night, with 78 percent of precincts reporting, the write-in candidates were leading the pack with 41 percent of the vote. Miller had 34 percent, and McAdams trailed with 24 percent.
CNN has projected that the Democratic candidate will finish in third place but has not yet called the race for Murkowski or Miller.
Despite Murkowski's excitement, Miller's campaign remained optimistic Wednesday, saying, "This campaign is not over!"
"Previous write-in campaigns in Alaska have demonstrated that as much as 5 [percent] to 6 percent of returned ballots have not met the standard to be counted as a valid vote," the campaign said in a statement.
"Candidates who mount a write-in campaign opt for an uphill battle. At this point, without a single write-in ballot counted, Lisa Murkowski has no claim on a victory."
Another fellow Alaskan running as a write-in is Lisa M. Lackey, whose presence on the ballot may complicate things for Murkowski.
Under state law, for a write-in vote to be valid, the name written on the ballot must match the name as it is listed on the write-in candidate's declaration of candidacy. In Murkowski's case, the law requires her supporters to write "Lisa Murkowski" or "Murkowski" for the vote to be counted.
However, in the event a voter misspells or abbreviates a candidate's name, such as "Lisa M." instead of "Lisa Murkowski," the Division of Elections would determine the voter's intent "on a case-by-case basis," according to division director Gail Fenumiai.
With two potential "Lisa M's" as write-in candidates, determining the intent of a voter who writes in "Lisa M." on his or her ballot would be much more difficult.
Matt Felling, an anchor for KTVA-TV in Anchorage, said the race could prove to be the "highest stakes spelling bee in American political history."
"Now we are going to find out how many people can put nine letters together that somewhat resemble Murkowski," he told CNN.
Miller's campaign blasted the Division of Elections' standards as "extraordinarily ambiguous."
On election nights, the Division of Elections tabulates the total number of write-in votes cast -- not a breakdown by candidate.
The Division of Elections only calculates the number of write-in votes for specific candidates if the total number of write-in votes cast is more than the number of votes received for any candidate, or if the total number of write-in votes comes in a close second to the top vote-getter.
Before the Division of Elections can start tabulating the write-in votes for specific candidates, all of the ballots cast have to be counted, including absentee ballots, early votes and questioned ballots.
The lieutenant governor's office and the Division of Elections plan to count all absentee ballots next Tuesday and move on to the hand count of the write-in votes the following day. The count of the write-in ballots is expected to take about three days.
The count was moved up from the original date of November 18 to provide election results in "a timely manner," according to Renee Limoge, spokeswoman for Alaska Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell.
With a victory, Murkowski would avenge her August primary loss to Miller in the latest chapter of a feud with his main backers and her long-standing tension with Palin.
Murkowski was first appointed to her post by her father, then-Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2002. Palin defeated him in the 2006 GOP gubernatorial primary.CNN's Drew Griffin, Jason Hanna and Robert Yoon contributed to this report.
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski thanks supporters Tuesday in Anchorage. It's unclear if she will be heading