[CaptainHaplo]

The issue in Alaska is 2 fold. First, there were over 160 registered and valid "write in" candidates. That number is actually unheard of in most races. One of them has the name of Lisa Murkowski, the "main" write in candidate. However, there are at least three other candidates with similiar names....

Lisa M. Lackey
Lyn Marcum
Lee Hamerski

What happens if someone puts Lisa M and thats it? Who gets that vote? What if they just put L. M.?

Because its a write in, each ballot will need to be examined to determine "voter intent". The 2nd problem is that the law in Alaska is that you have to spell the name fully and correctly. However the courts have eased that in stating that if voter intent can be determined, the vote will count. The problem is what constitutes voter intent, since its a subjective standard. Especially considering write in is exactly that - every person writes in their own hand, who they vote for. Think of the differences in penmanship....

Additionally, there are oroughly 30,000 "absentee" ballots - ballots cast and mailed in. These are mostly military ballots, but definitely not all of them will be. They have yet to be counted.

So you have a difference of about 6-7 thousand votes in the "write in" category, but no one knows if the write ins are all for Lisa Murkowski. If they are not, then the difference decreases, perhaps substantially. Then you need to count the outstanding absentee ballots as well. A race should not be considered over until its is a mathematical lock, and its extremely likely that when everything is counted, Lisa Murkowski will not win.