In the days following last Tuesday’s election, U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka joined other Trump-endorsed Republican candidates around the country casting unfounded doubt on election results, despite the fact that Alaska election officials are still counting thousands of absentee ballots and have not reported widespread problems in voting.
“Our war is not over yet,” Tshibaka said last Wednesday in a podcast interview with Steve Bannon, who previously advised then-President Donald Trump.
“This might come down to things like recounts and lawsuits,” Tshibaka told Bannon, who was indicted for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about the Jan. 6, 2021, riots, and was indicted in New York state for dishonesty in fundraising efforts to build a border wall
“We’re anticipating a whole bunch of shenanigans here in these next couple months between now and January,” said Tshibaka, who asked for additional campaign contributions, which could go toward funding an election recount.
Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, a 30-year Republican elected public official charged with overseeing the Alaska Division of Elections, said in a statement Thursday that the election had been secure, and no problems had been identified by voting officials.
The latest results in the U.S. Senate race show Tshibaka narrowly ahead of Republican incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in first-choice votes, but thousands of absentee ballots remain to be counted and ranked-choice voting tabulation will likely put Murkowski ahead.
As of Monday afternoon, Tshibaka had 44.22% of votes while Murkowski had nearly 42.84%, trailing Tshibaka by less than 3,000 first-choice votes. Democrat Pat Chesbro had more than 9% of the vote, and many of her supporters were expected to rank Murkowski second. Buzz Kelley, a Republican who dropped out of the race and endorsed Tshibaka but whose name remained on the ballot, had less than 3% of first-choice votes counted so far.
Under Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, if no candidate reaches the 50% threshold needed to win, the last-place candidate is eliminated and their votes redistributed to the remaining candidates according to their next-choice preferences. That process repeats itself until a candidate crosses the 50% threshold.
Election officials are expected to continue counting absentee and overseas ballots in the coming days, and Murkowski allies say that could put her ahead of Tshibaka in first-choice votes. Murkowski — who has relied on a coalition of support from both the left, center and right — is far more likely to benefit from the ranked choice voting tabulation than her more conservative Republican opponent. Alaska’s new voting system was designed and advocated for by Murkowski’s allies; it was implemented after voters narrowly approved it by ballot measure in 2020.
Ranked-choice voting tabulation is scheduled to take place on Nov. 23 at 4 p.m. after all ballots are received and counted by election officials. Results won’t be final until then.
Election officials said last Thursday that they had not found reason to question the results of the election. The Division of Elections reported that they had not heard of any official requests for a recount.
If such a request is submitted, a recount would include a hand-count verification of first-choice results from one voting precinct per house district. Election contests must be submitted 10 days after result certification. The target date for the state board of elections to certify results is Nov. 29.
“If there are challenges to the election and we have to go into disputes or recounts or litigation, it will take longer,” Tshibaka told Bannon. “We’re anticipating and bracing for that. We know that we’ve got all the way until January before they need to swear someone in, so the timeframe could drag out until then.”
In a written statement on Thursday, Meyer thanked election workers “who gave their time, effort and energy to conduct a smooth, proper, and by all accounts secure election this past Tuesday.”
Tshibaka campaign advisers Mary Ann Pruitt and Tim Murtaugh did not respond to phone calls and texts seeking clarification on Tshibaka’s intention to challenge election results.
Asked at a rally five days before Election Day if she had any reason to question the integrity of Alaska’s election system, Tshibaka did not indicate she had reason to distrust it.
Reader Comments(0)