Friday’s Superior Court case involving Alaska’s new political boundaries started with the Muldoon-Eagle River proposed divorce.
The trial is combining a number of challenges to Alaska’s newly redrawn political boundaries. Friday’s proceedings were about the East Anchorage challenge, in which Democrat operatives Felisa Wilson, George Martinez, and Yarrow Silvers have their day in court to challenge the combination of Eagle River and Muldoon populations into one Senate District L.
The only constitutional requirement is that two House districts must touch to make up a Senate district. Martinez and his co-challengers are arguing that the new map dilutes some people’s votes. But that argument is difficult for Martinez to make because there is no constitutional directive that a Senate district must also be socioeconomically integrated.
There are also two boroughs suing because they don’t want to be associated with each other: Mat-Su Borough and Valdez are asking for what is essentially an annulment of the political marriage that the Redistricting Board gave them.
The Skagway’s challenge to the board is that they have been forced into political matrimony with north Juneau — the Mendenhall Valley, Auke Bay, and Lena Beach areas, which is geographically closer to Skagway. The Skagway Borough says it wants to be married to Downtown Juneau because those people are more like Skagway people. Until Southeast Alaska’s population shrunk, it was not an issue because there were five districts in Southeast, while now there are four.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews said it will be an 11-day trial, with each of the five challenges getting a single day devoted to their dispute with the Alaska Redistricting Board’s final maps. The trial is being broadcast online.
