The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled, in the case of Democrat Rep. Jennie Armstrong’s tenuous claims of residency, your home is basically wherever you left your bra behind. Or perhaps your carpetbag.
The legal case was brought by Republican candidate and longtime Alaskan Liz Vazquez, along with Chris Duke, Randy Eledge, Steve Strait, and Kathryn Werdahl, all longtime residents. They said that Armstrong had not met the residency rule for serving in the Legislature, because according to the Alaska Constitution, a candidate must have been a resident for three years immediately before filing for office. For the November, 2022 election, Armstrong would have needed to be a resident by June 1, 2022. Armstrong said she became a resident on May 20, 2019, while the complainants said she wasn’t a resident until June 7, 2019, at the earliest.
Armstrong is a born-and-raised Louisianan, who sold her stuff in 2016 and started traveling around the country. She met Benjamin Kellie, an Alaskan sometime around January, 2019, on a video call set up by a friend. The two became romantically interested and Kellie persuaded her to book a flight. She visited Kellie from May 10-20, 2019. That is when she started imagining life with him. While basking in the steamy waters of Chena Hot Springs on May 14, the two had conversations about how they felt about each other, and four days later, while visiting Seward, they discussed marriage and having children. Between May 18 and May 20, Kellie asked her to move in with him.
On May 20, Armstrong left the state with the intent to return after meeting some prior commitments. She told the Alaska Supreme Court that after she left the state she started looking for return tickets, but eventually decided it wasn’t logistically or financially feasible. She booked a flight back to Alaska on May 25 for travel on June 8. The two married in 2020.
When she applied for a non-resident fishing permit in June of 2019, she listed her Louisiana address as her permanent address. But she told the judges she had no intention to make Louisiana her home, even though she listed it as her home. In later years, she appeared to have fudged some of the dates on her fishing licenses.
The complainants said that there is no evidence Armstrong planned to stay until after June 7, 2019.
In 2023, the Supreme Court allowed Armstrong to be sworn in while the case proceeded.
The court ultimately believed Armstrong’s romantic story about adventuring to Alaska and then deciding to run for office to represent District 16 in Anchorage. The court upheld the Division of Elections certification of the November, 2022 election.
Justice Susan Carney was not convinced, sharing concerns that this new interpretation may invite transient individuals to claim residency with minimal proof. But the bra rule now stands in Alaska, as established by Rep. Armstrong’s summer romance in 2019.
