Alaska voters can redraw the map on their own

By Larry Persily

Many Alaskans fondly embrace and proudly recite the defiant expression from the 1970s: “We don’t give a damn how they do it Outside.” Though often it’s because we can’t get it done the same way they do it Outside because of cost or geography or our small population — or because some online merchants still refuse to ship to the 49th state.

No matter, the expression evokes a stubbornness and determination that has suited Alaska well for decades, or at least it’s been well suited much of the time.

Now is the time for Alaskans to once again rally around that attitude because so much is at stake.

Close to a dozen states, yes, almost one-quarter of the 50 marginally united states, are redrawing their congressional district maps to favor one party over the other in this fall’s monumentally important mid-year election to decide control of Congress.

Republicans hold an itty-bitty majority in the House and want to keep it that way.

President Donald Trump loves the Republicans in Congress who love him back, and he wants to keep it that way. Democrats only get in the way, the president says.

After the U.S. Supreme Court decided that nasty, pure partisan politics were an acceptable reason to redraw congressional maps — creating House districts that favor one party and cramming voters of the other party into smaller political ghettos — several states, mostly Republican-led states, fired up their mapping software to ensure that more candidates from their party can win election in safe seats in November.

No need to wait for population counts from the next U.S. Census, as states usually do. The new partisan thinking is redraw the maps whenever it is to your party’s advantage to keep control. It’s akin to changing the rules of the game when you’re ahead and you want to keep it that way.

It doesn’t work in sports or poker or Monopoly, though it’s the new way to maintain a political monopoly.

And it’s not illegal, says the Supreme Court, just crass politics where the winner takes all.

This is where Alaska can show the country that we don’t give a damn how they do it Outside. Alaska’s population is so small that we get only one member in the U.S. House. Geographic size doesn’t matter, it’s based on population. So we have no map to redraw. While other state legislatures can color outside the lines to create the political picture they want, Alaska has no lines to move.

Which means the only thing Alaskans can do in November is vote for the candidates who believe in fairness, particularly in elections. Candidates who believe that abusing the system to keep one party in power is not how a democracy should work. Candidates who believe that the president is not the almighty, no matter what he thinks.

It’s only June, and the primary election is more than two months away, the general election five months away. But as people go about their summers, whether fishing or hiking, camping or gardening, or just sitting in the sun and eating hot dogs with mustard and onions (no ketchup, please), keep in mind that casting your ballots will be the only thing you can do to redraw the seating chart in Congress.

It’s the only way we can influence how they do it Outside.

• Larry Persily is the publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel, which first published this column.