The Alaska Supreme Court approved a redistricting plan for the 2012 elections on Tuesday. Alaska Redistricting Board executive director Taylor Bickford says the high court has accepted the amended proclamation plan of April 5, including voting maps for Southeast Alaska districts that the high Court had previously rejected. The state Supreme Court had asked the Board to redraw the two Southeast Districts as recently as May 10, and the Board submitted the changes, but the Justices decided to reject those changes. Bickford says the justices were listening to Alaska Native objections to the recent changes to Southeast.
Bickford says all aspects of the accepted plan have passed mandatory federal Department of Justice approval. He says the Board is pleased with today’s decision. The Supreme Court has asked the division of elections and other interested parties whether the candidate filing deadline should be moved. That matter is still unresolved.
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APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
