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French v. Bell Senate Race May Not Be Over
Absentee ballots have small chance of negating French's lead
By Bill McAllister
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There's still one legislative race that has a small chance of changing, which would make the Republican edge in the Senate 14-to-6.
In West Anchorage, Democratic Senator Hollis French is leading Republican Bob Bell by 247 votes.
The Division of Elections says as of yesterday there were 1,538 absentee votes still to be counted, with the number expected to increase slightly as votes come in by mail that were postmarked by Election Day.
French says he does not think Bell can overtake him now.
"It'd have to get far out of whack, which is just unlikely. I mean, 60-40, you know, you could see in some precincts. But we worked the absentees just as hard as they did. We get the lists, we send mail to them right away, we start calling them."
Bell agrees that he's not likely to win, but is not conceding yet. He says historically conservative voters are more likely to vote absentee.
"At 1,500, to make that up, I’d have to get 58 percent of those 1,500 votes. That’s do-able, but I wouldn't put a lot of money on it, you know."
French and Bell each accuse the other of negative campaigning.
French says he won because of hard work and personal contacts with voters.
Bell says based on the reception he was getting, he is surprised at his apparent loss.
