A state court judge says the Alaska Redistricting Board should immediately begin redrawing the state’s political boundaries.
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Superior Court Judge Michael McConahy in a tartly worded order also said the board must hold public hearings on whatever it comes up with.
McConahy has been presiding over challenges to the redistricting plan. He said Alaska’s no closer to having “constitutional voting districts” than it was in February 2012, when he found several districts were unconstitutional as drawn, or last December, when the Alaska Supreme Court ordered the map be redrawn for next year’s elections.
Board Chairman John Torgerson has said the panel intends to wait for a U.S. Supreme Court decision on provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act before redrawing the map.
McConahy says the board doesn’t need to wait.
