law, and renewed calls for a hand count of all the ballots cast in the election. Appeal to the Supreme Court of Alaska On December 13, Miller appealed the Alaska Superior Court decision of the prior week to the Alaska Supreme Court. Miller's appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court on December 22, 2010. Discussion of constitutional issues in the media Writing in Slate magazine, election law analyst Richard L. Hasen said Miller's federal complaint involved issues that can arise in close elections, and noted the value of sticking to established rules so that election officials cannot manipulate the vote. However, he also noted that the question of whether the Alaska statute required perfect spelling was a matter of statutory interpretation, and that Alaska's Supreme Court has a long history of interpreting statutes in favor of the voters to avoid disenfranchisement based on technicalities. Hasen also noted that Miller's constitutional claims derive from a concurring opinion in the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case, Bush v. Gore, and said that the Election Clause claim would fail "because it would mean that election officials could never come up with regulations". Hasen also believed the Equal Protection argument, which is based on inconsistent treatment of similar ballots by different election officials, would also fail because in Bush v. Gore different election officials in different counties reviewed the ballots, but in Alaska, only one person was judging all the contested ballots. Continuation After these events, a lawsuit was filed by supporters of Miller arguing that the state violated the Voting Rights Act by accepting misspellings on write-in ballots, using different counting methods for different types of candidates and by allowing voters to vote without showing identification. Alaska has taken the position that the lawsuit is moot and in any event beyond the statute of limitations. All of Miller's legal challenges eventually failed. The State of Alaska spent an estimated $100,000 defending itself from these suits, and pursued partial compensation from Miller, as well as proposing new voting rules regarding write-ins in order to prevent a recurrence. References External links Miller v. Treadwell - Alaska Supreme Court decision 2010 in United States case law 2010 Alaska elections Alaska state case law United States elections case law United States district court cases