Redistricting plan needs tweaking

It might be too late for this kind of pontification, but we feel compelled to at least weigh in on the subject of redistricting.

The state’s redistricting board released its final maps this past week. The biggest change for the Valley, as most anyone following the process already knows, is that we will be getting a new House seat.

We, of course, are thrilled to hear we will be getting another representative. Valley districts are currently much more densely populated than others in the state and Valley voters have less of a voice. Getting a new seat will fix that.

Other changes in the districting process are more troubling. For instance; the House seat representing Sutton and Chickaloon has been expanded further into the Valley, but still includes Valdez and Delta Junction.

That part of the Valley has long been somewhat under represented. Sharing with those other two communities means that often the representative lives hundreds of miles away and has many other priorities closer to home.

Currently, a Chickaloon resident holds that seat, but the Republican primary there was squeaker in which he faced strong candidates from Delta Junction and Valdez. Each candidate took the overwhelming majority of votes close to home and essentially split the district three ways. Eric Feige ended up winning by less than a dozen votes. The seat could easily change hands next go-around.

The board could have folded the Butte and a piece of Fairview into that seat and made a seat fully encompassed in the borough. That would have also eliminated the other shared district — the Chugiak/Butte/Fairview district.

Also troubling are the pairings of House districts used to come up with Senate districts. For those who don’t know, in Alaska, two House districts form one Senate district.

Among the many things that make the Valley unique is a rare pairing of urban and rural lifestyles. We know of few places in the nation diverse enough to include both the box-store haven of Wasilla and the peacefully idyllic Skwentna.

In politics, representing rural voters is not the same as representing urban ones. Urban centers need to maintain roads. Rural areas need to build roads or, sometimes, trails. Urban centers consider building city sewer systems while rural areas sometimes don’t even have septic.

In the Senate, that urban-rural divide has been pretty well acknowledged, with Sen. Charlie Huggins representing rural areas like Talkeetna and Willow as well as not-quite rural areas like the Butte and Big Lake. Sen. Linda Menard represents urban Wasilla and Palmer.

In the final pairings, though, Menard would represent Palmer and the district encompassing Houston, Willow and Talkeetna. Huggins, meanwhile, would represent Big Lake, Knik and Wasilla. Butte voters will see their votes further diluted in a pairing with an Anchorage district.

Talk radio hosts have already been crowing about their perception that Menard will have trouble pulling votes out of the deeply conservative western Valley. Though she is a Republican, many perceive her as moderate.

We honestly don’t care who winds up winning that seat. If voters want someone else, that’s fine with us. But we do think it will be hard for whoever wins either of those seats to balance the needs of urban and rural voters. It would have been a simple thing for the board to split the Valley along urban and rural lines.

With final plans about to be approved, it might be too late for the board to change its mind. But the courts, if the past is any prologue, will soon redraw these new lines anyway. Here’s hoping that includes a few tweaks in the Valley.