Alaska Redistricting Summary

Congressional

State Legislative

Summary
On a 3-2 vote, with the two Republican legislative appointees dissenting, the Alaska Apportionment Board adopted a plan proposed by Alaskans for Fair Redistricting.  Republicans were angered by the pairing of as many as 18 (14 House and 4 Senate) state legislators in Anchorage and filed a lawsuit claiming a partisan gerrymander.  Later, the State Supreme Court ruled that more than half of the districts were unconstitutional on various concerns.  The Apportionment Board was allowed to address the court's concerns, and ultimately adopted an amended map that won court approval on a 5-0 vote.

Source: Pemberton, Mary.  2002.  "Reworked Redistricting Plan Gets Judge's Approval." Associated Press State and Local Wire.  May 9, 2002.

Full disclosure: I served as an expert witness for the Alaska Apportionment Board's defense of their first map.  I analyzed the partisan effects of the redistricting, and found that the plan would favor neither party, and due to the strength of Republicans in the state, would elect a Republican majority. 

More Information

Historical Background

Every ten years, after the federal census, the states must redraw their legislative election districts to make these districts equal in population.  During the intervening years some districts have gained population and others have lost population. The process of drawing new election district boundaries is called redistricting. States go about redistricting differently. Usually it is done by the legislature, but some state constitutions delegate the power to a board or commission. This is the case in Alaska:  our constitution grants the power to draw new election districts to a five-member, independent board. The Alaska Redistricting Board has 90 days to complete the task from the time the federal Census Bureau reports the decennial population figures to the state. The Board’s redistricting plan must conform to state and federal standards. For example, the election districts must be approximately equal in population; they must be compact and contiguous; they must strive to incorporate integrated socio-economic areas; and they may not discriminate against racial minorities. The Alaska Redistricting Board, its constitutional duties, and standards for election districts are discussed below.

The Alaska Redistricting Board

Article VI of the Alaska Constitution provides for the apportionment and districting of the state legislature. It was rewritten by an amendment that the voters ratified in 1998. Section 8 creates the Redistricting Board. It consists of five members, “all of whom shall be residents of the state for at least one year and none of whom may be public employees or officials at the time of or during the tenure of appointment.” The governor appoints two members, the president of the Senate appoints one member, the speaker of the House appoints one member, and the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court appoints one member. Board members may not run for legislative office in the first election following adoption of a redistricting plan. 

[Note from Michael McDonald: under the 1960 Alaska constitution, the Governor appointed all 5 members of the Alaska Redistricting Board.  The 1998 amendment was conceived by the Republican state legislative leaders to preempt Democratic Governor Knowles from appointing all five members in the impending redistricting.] 

The constitution stipulates that “within thirty days after the official reporting of the decennial census of the United States . . . the board shall adopt one or more proposed redistricting plans.” The board must hold hearings on its proposed plan or plans, and then adopt a final plan within the next sixty days. Thus, the board has 90 days in which to complete the task of drawing new election districts for the state.  Federal law requires the Census Bureau to report the census data to the states by April 1 of the year following the census. Thus, the Alaska board will adopt a plan by the end of June.

Any qualified voter in Alaska may sue in superior court to “compel the Redistricting Board . . . to perform its duties under this article or correct any error in redistricting.” Appeals go directly to the state Supreme Court, and redistricting litigation takes priority over other cases pending before the courts. 

Article VI establishes the number of House seats at 40, and Senate seats at 20. It specifies that Senate districts shall be composed of two contiguous house districts. Only single-member districts are permitted by the constitution. Section 6 lays down several requirements for election districts:

Each house district shall be formed of contiguous and compact territory containing as nearly as practicable a relatively integrated socio-economic area. Each shall contain a population as near as practicable to the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the state by forty . . . . Consideration may be given to local government boundaries. Drainage and other geographic features shall be used in describing boundaries wherever possible. 

In addition to these state constitutional standards for creating election districts, there are important federal rules as well. These rules stem from provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that prohibit discrimination against racial minorities in matters of voting and election district boundaries. There is now a long, complicated, and sometimes seemingly contradictory set of court decisions interpreting the Voting Rights Act and its amendments. The federal law in this area is discussed in articles and publications cited in the bibliography below, and in the article included in its entirety “How to Draw Election Districts That Will Stand Up in Court.”   

Further Reading

Several pertinent readings are provided below. These begin with the full text of Article VI of the Alaska Constitution. Also included is the text of Senate Bill 99 that was adopted by the Alaska legislature in 2000. It defines terms used in the constitution and prohibits the board from doing certain things. Information about the federal law in this area is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/overview.htm#sec_5, as well as in the article entitled “How to Draw Election Districts That Will Stand Up in Court” describes the case law and various legal parameters of redistricting.  

The person interested in further reading on the census and redistricting should peruse the following publications:  The Real Y2K Problem:  Census 2000 Data and Redistricting Technology, published by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law (brennan.center@nyu.edu); Redistricting Law 2000, published by the National Conference of State Legislatures (info@ncsl.org); and The Realists’ Guide to Redistricting, published by the American Bar Association (www.abanet.org).

There is a long history of litigation in state courts over previous redistricting plans in Alaska. Alaska Supreme Court decisions in past redistricting cases are cited here. Wade v. Nolan, 414 P2d 687 (Alaska 1966); Egan v. Hammond, 502 P2d 856 (Alaska 1972); Groh v. Egan 526 p2d 863 (Alaska 1974); Carpenter v. Hammond, 667 P2d 1204 (Alaska 1983); Kenai Peninsula Borough v. State, 743 P2d 1352 (Alaska 1987); Hickel v. Southeast Conference, 846 p2d 38 (Alaska 1992) [Hickel I]; Hickel v. Southeast Conference, 869 P2d 919 (Alaska 1994) [Hickel II]. There has been no litigation in federal courts over Alaska redistricting issues. 

This statement was written by the executive director of the Redistricting Board and does not purport to represent views of the Board or any of its members.