Alaska Constitution Article VI – Legislative Apportionment
📜 Alaska Constitution – Article VI: Legislative Apportionment
Article VI of the Alaska Constitution outlines the structure, election, and apportionment of the Alaska State Legislature, including both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
🔹 Key Sections and Their Meanings:
Section 1 – The Legislature
Establishes a bicameral legislature: the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Section 2 – Membership
Senate: Must have not more than 20 members.
House: Must have not more than 40 members.
Exact numbers are set by law within these limits.
Section 3 – Election and Terms
Senators: Elected for 4-year terms, staggered so half are elected every 2 years.
Representatives: Elected for 2-year terms.
Section 4 – Apportionment
The state is divided into election districts for the House.
Senate districts are formed by pairing two contiguous House districts.
Section 5 – Redistricting Board
Establishes a Redistricting Board to draw legislative boundaries after each decennial U.S. Census.
The board has 5 members: appointed by the governor, chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, Senate president, and House speaker.
Section 6 – District Boundaries
Boundaries must follow principles like:
Compactness
Contiguity
Relative population equality
Respect for local government boundaries and communities of interest
Section 7 – Modification of Senate Districts
If House districts change, Senate districts must be revised accordingly.
📌 Purpose and Importance:
Ensures fair representation across Alaska despite its vast and unevenly populated geography.
Prevents gerrymandering by placing redistricting in the hands of an independent board.
Maintains balanced population representation between rural and urban areas.
🧠 In Simple Terms:
Article VI explains how Alaska divides its population into districts to elect lawmakers. It sets rules to keep districts fair and gives a special board the job of redrawing maps after every census.
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