An Anchorage Superior Court judge issued his ruling Monday that says the election of Rep.-elect Jennie Armstrong will stand, and that she was indeed qualified enough to run for office in West Anchorage House District 16 when she filed earlier this year.
With just a week before legislators are sworn into office, Judge Herman Walker issued the ruling against challengers of Armstrong, who said she had not moved into the district in time to be a qualified candidate.
The case had been brought by opposing candidate Liz Vazquez, as well as Chris Duke, Randy Eledge, Steve Strait and Kathryn Werdahl, all residents of the district. They said that Armstrong’s victory was unlawfully certified by the Division of Elections, but the judge disagreed, and said that Armstrong may be sworn into office on Jan. 17.
Armstrong had made the decision to move to Alaska on May 20, 2019, although it’s unclear that she had actually done so since she came and left the state during that timeframe. The judge appears to take her word for it, while much evidence suggests she still considered herself a visitor, since she applied for a non-resident fishing license later that summer. In other parts of her testimony, she says she was a resident since May 1, 2019. Alaska has a three-year residency requirement, which would mean she would have been a resident by about 10 days or up to a month before she would not have qualified for office for that year.
Judge Walker heard the case on Dec. 22. It took him nearly three weeks to issue his ruling because, evidently, he left the country for the holidays. The case will likely be appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court.
The judge’s ruling is below:
