Miller won't block Murkowski's certification

Joe Miller, the Republican nominee for Alaska's U.S. Senate seat, says he will not oppose state certification for the November election because he wants his state to be represented in Washington. Nonetheless, he is keeping a federal suit alive.

His main opponent in the race - incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski - has already been declared the victor by the state elections board, and seen that victory upheld by the state Surpreme Court. Certification as victor allows her to be sworn in to the U.S. Senate when it convenes on Jan. 5.

The integrity of the election is vital and ultimately the rule of law must be our standard, Miller said. Nevertheless I have also decided to withdraw our opposition to the certification of the election, ensuring that Alaska will have its full delegation seated when the 112^th Congress convenes next month.

Miller's announcement should be the last barrier to Murkowski winning her second election to the Senate from Alaska and becoming the first write-in candidate in 56 yers to win a U.S. Senatorial election.

Despite relenting on the issue of certification, Miller says he will proceed with a federal lawsuit.

A suit which went to Alaska's Supreme Court went against him, upholding a lower court's decision. It struck down' Miller's claims that election officials broke the law by counting misspellings of his opponent's name.

Murkowski won her write-in campaign by more than 10,000 votes and, as both courts pointed out, even if they were to discount all the votes the Miller campaign challenged, Murkowski would still have won by more than 2,000 votes.

Miller says his legal team will pursue several issues related to the U.S. Constitution in federal court including violations of the Election Clause, its Equal Protection Clause, felons voting in the election and at least hundreds of ballots being filled out by a handful of people.