Alaska Supreme Court finds Anchorage state Senate map is ‘unconstitutional political gerrymander’
2022 Elections,2022 Alaska Senate Election,Courts,Gerrymandering,Supreme Court
The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday that a new map of state Senate districts in Anchorage “constituted an unconstitutional political gerrymander violating equal protection under the Alaska Constitution” and must be redrawn before its use in this year’s statewide election.
In a combined summary decision, the court said it is upholding a lower court ruling that instructed the state’s five-person redistricting board to redraw the Senate map or explain why it is impossible to do so.
Alaska’s 20 Senate districts are each made of two House districts, and the board is in charge of redrawing their boundaries after every U.S. census to account for changes in population. In November, the board linked each of Eagle River’s House districts with districts elsewhere in Anchorage. This resulted in two Republican-leaning Senate seats and accusations of political gerrymandering by the three Republican-appointed members of the redistricting board.
