Redistricting Leads to Big Election Year in 2012

State voting district boundaries have changed so substantially under the new map drawn by the Alaska Redistricting Board that every state senator but one will face election next year, even though many were not scheduled for election until 2014.

An election schedule for the senators was approved Monday by the board.

Under the plan, only Sen. Dennis Egan, a Juneau Democrat, will not face election in 2012.

Board attorney Michael White says Egan’s district includes nearly 87 percent of the same population in 2010. The other nine senators who didn’t face election until 2014 included at most 55 percent of the original population.

The board approved an election schedule for senators this morning and anticipates giving final approval to the new district lines today.

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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

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