( CNN ) -- Alaska election officials will begin counting write-in ballots Wednesday despite a federal court challenge by the campaign of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller , state director Gail Fenumiai said . The complaint filed in federal court Tuesday afternoon asks Fenumiai 's office to `` adhere '' to state law in the counting of write-in ballots , limiting what the suit called `` subjective '' voter intent rules that were issued this week . Miller 's campaign has blasted the Division of Elections ' standards as `` extraordinarily ambiguous . '' The suit requests a court hearing Wednesday over the rules and asks for an injunction . The guidelines say poll workers must consider the voter 's intent when determining whether to count a ballot for a write-in candidate . The Miller suit says , according to state election law , that a write-in vote ca n't be accepted if the voter did not correctly write either the full name or last name of a candidate ; the voter wrote a candidate 's name incorrectly , or misspelled it ; or the name written on the ballot is not the name used on the candidate 's certificate of candidacy . `` The Miller Campaign has consistently maintained that every valid , lawful vote should be counted , '' campaign attorney Ton Van Flein said in a statement . `` We have further held to the expectation that the state laws , as written , should be followed , and that they should not be changed now , after the votes have been cast . `` Yesterday , the state issued a new policy -- after the votes have been cast -- imposing a new election standard for write-in ballots , '' he continued . `` We believe this action to be unconstitutional and contrary to express legislative mandates . '' Miller is believed to be locked in a tight race with incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski , who ran as a write-in candidate . In last week 's election , Miller received 34 percent of the vote , Democrat Scott McAdams , who conceded , collected 24 percent and 41 percent of ballots were for write-in candidates . Based on pre-election polling , the vast majority of write-in votes are expected to go to Murkowski , who lost to Miller in the Republican primary . Murkowski , however , was one of 161 eligible write-in candidates , giving Miller hope that he might still win . He currently has about 13,000 fewer votes than the write-in total . `` It is clear the Miller campaign wants to exclude as many votes from being counted as possible , '' Murkowski campaign manager Kevin Sweeney said early Wednesday . Murkowski said she intends to caucus with the Republicans should she return to the Senate . `` I 'm not my party 's nominee , but I am a Republican , '' she said . With a victory , Murkowski would avenge her August primary loss to Miller in the latest chapter of a feud with his main backers and her long-standing tension with former Alaska Gov . Sarah Palin , who backed Miller . Murkowski was first appointed to her post by her father , then-Gov . Frank Murkowski , in 2002 . Palin defeated him in the 2006 GOP gubernatorial primary . CNN 's Steve Brusk and Kristi Keck contributed to this report .
Miller campaign challenges election rules . Elections official says write-in vote count will start Wednesday . Incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski is believed to have won nearly all of the write-in votes .