Murkowski gains votes as recount begins

Republican Joe Miller’s lead over Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) shrunk slightly Tuesday as state elections officials began the counting of approximately 24,000 ballots cast in the state’s Republican Senate primary.

After the first update from the state’s Division of Elections, Miller’s lead went from 1,668 votes to 1,325. 

An official from the Elections Division said she expects at least 15,000 ballots to be counted Tuesday — updates on the vote count will be posted periodically on the division’s website throughout the day.

That means by the end of the day, Murkowski and the rest of the world will have a pretty good idea of whether or not she can still overtake Miller in the Senate primary. 

The counting of the ballots will not be continuous, though. After Tuesday, another count of ballots will not happen until Sept. 3.