In 1998, Alaska voters approved Ballot Measure 3, a Constitutional Amendment which fundamentally re-wrote the redistricting process in Alaska. To provide some distance from elected officials who may be directly impacted by revised district boundaries, the new constitutional language delegated line-drawing authority to an independent Redistricting Board, whose members were prohibited from seeking legislative office in the election following adoption of a new redistricting plan. Show Note: In earlier decades, redistricting was commonly referred to as "reapportionment". The two terms are often interchangeably used although "reapportionment" technically means the assignment of United States House Representative counts among the 50 states. Since Alaska only has a single U.S. House Representative, Alaska focuses on "redistricting" which is the assignment of specific legislative seats to defined geographic areas. A dozen other states have seen the wisdom in this approach and many more are considering a similar method of redistricting for future decades. Alaska Constitutional ProvisionsArticle VI enacts the redistricting process in Alaska and spells out the creation and operations of the Redistricting Board. § 1. House Districts – Members of the house of representatives shall be elected by the qualified voters of the respective house districts. The boundaries of the house districts shall be set under this article following the official reporting of each decennial census of the United States.§ 2. Senate Districts – Members of the senate shall be elected by the qualified voters of the respective senate districts. The boundaries of the senate districts shall be set under this article following the official reporting of each decennial census of the United States.§ 3. Reapportionment of House and Senate – The Redistricting Board shall reapportion the house of representatives and the senate immediately following the official reporting of each decennial census of the United States. Reapportionment shall be based upon the population within each house and senate district as reported by the official decennial census of the United States.§ 4. Method of Redistricting – The Redistricting Board shall establish forty house districts, with each house district to elect one member of the house of representatives. The board shall establish twenty senate districts, each composed of two house districts, with each senate district to elect one senator.§ 5. Combining Districts – Repealed by 1998 Ballot Measure No. 3§ 6. District Boundaries – The Redistricting Board shall establish the size and area of house districts, subject to the limitations of this article. Each house district shall be formed of contiguous and compact territory containing as nearly as practicable a relatively integrated socio-economic area. Each shall contain a population as near as practicable to the quotient obtained by dividing the population of the state by forty. Each senate district shall be composed as near as practicable of two contiguous house districts. Consideration may be given to local government boundaries. Drainage and other geographic features shall be used in describing boundaries wherever possible.§ 7. Modification of Senate Districts – Repealed by 1998 Ballot Measure No. 3§ 8. Redistricting Board – |