Murkowski is pathetic. Totally inconsistent argument. "His presence will illegitimize the court, I pray he can fix that."
If she wants to lend a hand legitimizing the court, she just blew it. Her reason is totally selfish.
They can change the vote AFTER they vote. The tool "motion to reconsider" gives the body a day, and many times votes are changed after taken, before voting is closed.
Listen for "Move to lay motion to reconsider on the table" after EVERY substantive vote.
A present vote is effectively a NAY. It takes a majority of those present voting AYE for passage, and absence of an AYE has the same effect as a NAY.
But, you can fool some of the people all of the time, so "I didn't vote against" is at least a slightly effective (albeit false) argument.
The vote pairing that would work would be Murkowski ABSENT. In order to win, Kavanaugh needs a majority of those present to vote AYE. Voting PRESENT does not add to the AYE tally, and being present increases the threshold for majority voting AYE.
Alaska is corrupt, as are most states. Politics is essentially organized crime with government as the front.