Alaska elections official says agency doesn’t plan to investigate House candidate’s eligibility

The Alaska Division of Elections has no plans to research the residency of Anchorage Democratic state Home candidate Jennie Armstrong, a division official stated Monday.

Final week, political author Jeff Landfield recognized social media posts by Armstrong that appeared to point that she moved to Alaska in June 2019. Landfield later printed copies of fishing licenses that additionally dated her residency to June 2019. The state’s voter registration database signifies she registered to vote right here in August 2019.

Alaska’s structure requires a legislator to reside in Alaska for 3 years earlier than submitting to run for workplace, and Armstrong stated in her official declaration of candidacy that she moved to the state in Could 2019. She filed to run on June 1.

By e-mail, Armstrong stated she met her husband in January that yr, and “on the finish of a street journey collectively in Could of that yr, we determined I might keep in Alaska and I moved in with him.”

She supplied copies of her flight itinerary, which present her arriving in Alaska on Could 10, 2019, and he or she supplied a time-stamped photograph of herself as verification.

“I’ve lived in Alaska since Could of 2019, and there’s nowhere else I’ve lived or known as dwelling since then, a reality that’s well-documented,” she stated.

She stated she is targeted on the problems affecting her district.

“I’m centered on getting our economic system again on observe, making it so we’re opening new faculties as a substitute of probably closing faculties down, and doing every part I can to make Home District 16 a greater place to reside,” Armstrong stated.

State legislation says that for the needs of voting, an individual’s residency modifications with “the act of removing, joined with the intent to stay in one other place.”

Talking about her posts on social media, she stated, “The posts you’re asking about from Instagram have been made retrospectively (not posted in real-time) and have been my approach of asserting a giant life resolution to household and mates and sharing the story of what made me fall in love with this place, to not present an in depth authorized file.”

“Alaska has been dwelling for me since Could 2019, and that’s why my candidacy was licensed by the Division of Elections,” Armstrong stated.

Armstrong is working for Home District 16, which covers Anchorage’s airport and surrounding neighborhoods. Within the Aug. 16 major, she acquired greater than 53% of the vote, and her main challenger, Republican Liz Vazquez, acquired over 34%.

Eight years in the past, the Alaska Supreme Courtroom dominated that the intent to stay in a spot is the important thing issue when figuring out somebody’s residency, and that the burden of proof for difficult somebody’s residency is as much as the one that recordsdata the problem.

That makes profitable challenges uncommon. In 2012, when Barbara Bachmeier’s candidacy for state Home was rejected on residency grounds, nobody working on the Alaska Division of Elections at the moment may recall an analogous case.

Armstrong stated she didn’t really feel a must pinpoint her move-in date till she thought of working for Home.

“I by no means gave a second thought concerning the precise date I moved to Alaska till I wanted to verify my qualification to run for workplace,” she stated.

As to her fishing licenses, “Whereas my earlier guess on my transfer date might have been barely off on a fishing license, I made an trustworthy guess with out a second thought.”

Tiffany Montemayor, public relations supervisor for the Alaska Division of Elections, stated by e-mail that the division didn’t examine Armstrong’s residency standing and eligibility when she filed for workplace.

“The division primarily based the candidacy certification on the knowledge supplied by Ms. Armstrong on her declaration of candidacy,” Montemayor stated by e-mail.

Historically, the division solely investigates residency points when somebody recordsdata a proper grievance throughout a 10-day window that follows the submitting deadline.

No complaints have been filed towards Armstrong’s candidacy, in response to the outcomes of a public information request this summer season.

Montemayor stated the division has not acquired any complaints about Armstrong’s residency standing since Landfield’s writing, and he or she stated the division won’t be taking any extra motion.

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