End of the Weekend Roundup - Miller 87,517 -- Murkowski - 85,756

From Patti Epler's end-of-the-weekend rundown:

Elections officials worked from about noon to 5 p.m. Sunday and counted another 4,963 write-in ballots. Murkowski picked up 4,733 of those, according to the state's tally.

At the end of the day, the number of votes awarded by the state Division of Elections to Murkowski stood at 85,756. Of those, 7,059 have been challenged by Miller and could end up as part of a legal filing, although he said Saturday if the numbers continue to add up for Murkowski he may not take the state to court.

Miller had 87,517 and Democrat Scott McAdams had 57,774; their totals haven't changed in recent days because the state has been counting only write-ins.

At this point, Murkowski is 1,751 votes behind Miller. There are about 8,600 absentees and as many as 15,000 write-ins left to count, according to Murkowski spokesman John Tracy. With 98 percent of the write-ins trending her way, Murkowski still seems on track to keep the Senate seat she has held for the past eight years.

Miller was quoted this evening by KTUU TV news thusly:

Miller says he's shocked at the votes that are being counted.

“Here's another one that was approved apparently today, which is ‘Maryski,’” Miller said. “Another one here is an ‘M’ with a squiggle behind it, and then a whole series of ballots like ‘Murcaski.’”

Miller says the Division of Elections needs to follow state statute and only count votes for “Lisa Murkowski,” the name under which she registered as a write-in candidate. He says he won't pursue a win if it's impossible, but says if the division follows the law he will come out ahead.

“We're cautiously optimistic and we remain cautiously optimistic today -- our position on this has not changed since the votes started rolling in on election night.”