Murkowski certified as Alaska's next senator

Some historic documents are on their way to Washington D.C., documents that officially declare Lisa Murkowski Alaska's next U.S. Senator.

The state certified the drawn out election Thursday morning and for the first time in more than half a century a write-in candidate will be sworn in to the United States Senate.

Gov. Sean Parnell and Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell signed multiple copies of a certificate announcing to the Senate that Murkowski will return for a second term.

She's now the first U.S. Senate candidate to win with a write-in campaign since Strom Thurmond in 1954.

Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai will hand-carry the documents to the U.S. Senate secretary's office in Washington D.C. in time for Murkowski to be sworn in next Wednesday.

They’re also sending copies via Fed-Ex just to be safe.

The final election numbers shows Murkowski with a tally of 101,091 votes. Joe Miller received just under $91,000.

As Miller decides what to do next, the state says it'll conduct an internal review of how it handled the race.

The governor and lieutenant governor say they don't anticipate the administration proposing changes to election law, but they're leaving open the possibility.
“Certainly voter intent is a priority when it comes to counting ballots. If the legislature would like to clarify that I'd be happy to work with them on doing that,” said Parnell.

Miller may be planning further legal challenges, but as far as the state's concerned, the race is over.

Miller has scheduled a press conference for 2:00 p.m. Friday to address his plans moving forward, including whether he will pursue a federal appeal or state election contest.