Version 4 of a proposed District 39 map.

Redistricting maps up for public comment in Nome

By Julia Lerner
Members of the Alaska Redistricting Board will visit Nome in October to meet with residents and discuss several proposed district maps as part of their community outreach tour.
Board members are soliciting public comments and testimony about the six proposed plans, adopted last week, before submitting and voting on a final district map in November.
“I was pleased that the Board came together [last week] to bring six proposed redistricting plans forward for Alaskans to consider,” said Board Chair John Binkley in a statement. “We will now be traveling around the state to learn which plan best reflects Alaskans’ desire for their legislative districts.”
Though the board has not yet confirmed a meeting date for Nome, public meetings are already scheduled in Anchorage, Sitka, Valdez and Haines. The redistricting board’s Deputy Director TJ Presley says they intend to add more meetings across the state.
“We’re travelling to communities specifically because we really want to hear their opinions,” Presley explained. “We only have five board members and three or four staff. There’s just no way we could possibly have a full knowledge of every connection between every community across the state.”
Two of the six proposed maps were developed by the redistricting board, while the remaining four were adopted from outside organizations, including the Senate Minority Caucus, Alaskans for Fair and Equitable Redistricting (AFFER), Alaskans for Fair Redistricting (AFFR), and the Coalition of Doyon, Ltd. Tanana Chiefs Conference, Fairbanks Native Association, Sealaska and Ahtna.
Several of the proposed maps, available for viewing online at the redistricting board’s website, include changes to the Nome Census Area, which grew from 9,492 people in 2010 to 10,056 people in 2020.
“The Nome District right now, as it is currently legally, goes from Shishmaref in the north to Hooper Bay in the south,” Presley told the Nugget. “There’s some question over whether or not Hooper Bay will go with the Bethel District, 38, or stay with the Nome district, 39.”
Presley said some of the maps explore changes in interior districts, impacting the easternmost villages currently in the Nome District, though nothing is set in stone yet.
“Since districts are allocated by population, growth is good for Nome even if it means the boundary lines will have to change,” redistricting board member Melanie Bahnke told the Nugget in August.
Bahnke, president and CEO of Kawerak and a longtime Nomeite, was the fifth appointment to the five-person board, and was appointed by former Alaska Chief Justice Joel Bolger.
The board has only a few weeks to tour the state, consider public testimony and redraft map options. They’ve already received more than 200 written comments and concerns regarding the proposed plans and will hear many more during hours of meetings and testimony.
“The constitution does demand a very tight schedule, and [the board] must drop the gavel on a final plan by November 10,” Presley said.  “All of these maps right now are draft proposals. They’re drawn in pencil and meant to be erased. None of these are final, and the board is really interested in generating conversation in the communities so that they can make the final map.”

The Nome Nugget

PO Box 610
Nome, Alaska 99762
USA

Phone: (907) 443-5235
Fax: (907) 443-5112

www.nomenugget.net

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