On April 1, the Alaska Elections Division, which is under the Lieutenant Governor, issued this 52-page report about the 2010 election for U.S. Senate. That election was historic because a write-in candidate was elected. There was a great deal of litigation over the write-ins, and also over other election law ambiguities, which prompted this report.

The Report recommends that voter intent continue to be the standard for determining if a write-in should be counted. However, the report does not specifically mention the controversy over whether a write-in is valid, if the voter who cast the write-in doesn’t know, or forgets, to “X” the box next to the name written in. The Report says that the state should continue to ask write-in candidates to file a declaration of write-in candidacy, and suggests a deadline of 21 days before the election. But the Report says the declaration should be voluntary, not mandatory.

The Report reveals that it cost the state $60,440 dollars to count the 102,334 write-in votes.