An election-related lawsuit challenging the Alaska residency of Jennifer “Jennie” Armstrong, who came from Louisiana in June of 2019, and who is apparently the winner of District 16’s House seat in the the Alaska Legislature, was assigned a new judge last week. The state objected to the first judge for unknown reasons and Judge Herman Walker will take over.
Armstrong now has legal representation: Election activist and author of the Ballot Measure 2-ranked choice voting lawyer Scott Kendall has joined the fray, representing the Democrat, who ran to become the first openly pansexual candidate to be in the Alaska Legislature. Armstrong is not named in the lawsuit, whose plaintiffs are directing their complaints over Amstrong’s illegality to the state Division of Elections.
According to Armstrong’s own social media account, she visited Alaska in May of 2019 to visit her then-boyfriend. Then she returned in June of that year and applied for a non-resident fishing license on June 23, declaring her residency to be in Louisiana. It appears from her activities that she came up to go fishing with her boyfriend. As a non-resident in June of 2019, she was not eligible to run for House in the 2022 election, having missed the deadline by a couple of weeks.
The following June, Armstrong applied for and received a 2020 resident sport fishing license.” On said application, Armstrong indicated that she was a resident for one year and zero months, meaning that she asserted her residency in Alaska did not begin until June 2019, which contradicts the story she told the Alaska Department of Fish and Game the prior year.
Armstrong did not demonstrate the intent to remain in Alaska until at least June 7, 2019, but possibly as late as August 26, 2019, when she registered to vote, the lawsuit explains.
The clock is ticking on the lawsuit. Nov. 29 is the Division of Elections’ target date to certify the general election, per statute 15.15.450.
District 16 residents Chris Duke, Randy Eledge, Steve Strait, and Kathryn Werdhal are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which has no court hearing date set. Armstrong and Kendall have filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Donations to the HD16 Armstrong Candidacy Challenge can be made to the Holmes Weddle and Barcott Trust Account and will be used to pay legal fees and costs incurred by the firm in connection with the recount and potential litigation related to the referenced litigation.
Donations can be mailed to:
ATTN: Stacey C. Stone
Holmes Weddle & Barcott, PC
701 W 8th Ave, Ste 700
Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 274-0666
Any donation checks should reference HD16 Armstrong Candidacy Challenge. Credit card donations can be given online at https://secure.lawpay.com/pages/hwb/trust or over the phone by calling 907-274-0666. Corporate donations are allowed, and no funds will be paid to or under the control of any candidate. If the amount donated exceeds the legal fees and costs incurred, the surplus donations will be returned to the donors on a pro rata basis.
