ANCHORAGE, Alaska — New numbers from the Alaska Division of Elections are in for the closely contested U.S. Senate Republican primary, after election workers began counting absentee ballots shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Tea Party favorite Joe Miller's lead over Sen. Lisa Murkowski had shrunk from 1,668 votes to 1,210 votes. The Division of Elections had included 9,000 new votes in its totals, 4,729 of which went to Murkowski, compared to only 4,271 for Miller.
Observers from both campaigns were present at the Division of Elections Anchorage office as the absentee ballot count began. More than 11,000 votes were expected to be counted Tuesday, with final results in at 6 p.m.
Contact Jason Lamb at jlamb@ktuu.com
