PEOPLE MOVED TO MAT-SU, BUT POWER WILL SHIFT VIA CENSUS
Juneau is the top city in Alaska so far for responding to the U.S. Census, ensuring that as redistricting goes ahead next year, the Democrat stronghold will retain as much power as possible, while Wasilla may give up some of its power.
That’s because Wasilla is doing the worst of the major communities in terms of its response to the census — only 44 percent of Wasilla households have responded so far, compared with nearly 58 percent of Juneauites.
In fact, liberal Juneau and increasingly liberal-voting Anchorage are doing the best in the race to be counted. Both areas of the state have actually lost population, while Wasilla, Palmer and the rest of the Mat-Su have gained households in recent years.
But the federal government won’t know that has occurred if Valley residents choose not to participate in the count.
The top community in the country for Census response is North River, North Dakota, with a 100 percent response, while Coffman Cove, Alaska is at the bottom of communities, with only a 1 percent response rate. The Aleutians and Northwest Arctic are below 5 percent, according to information on the dashboard.
To date, fewer than 39 percent of Alaskans have responded, which means towns like Juneau and Sitka could retain distinct political advantages over those such as Ketchikan to the south, which currently has a mere 44 percent response rate, and rural communities, which are proving hard to count, as they have been in censuses past.
