The Alaska Dispatch reports on the drawing of new redistricting maps without federal Section 5 veto review.

After
being sent back to the drawing board by the Alaska Supreme Court last
winter, the Alaska Redistricting Board released a new plan this week
that did away with some creative groupings, especially for southeast
Alaska

…Until recently, the Alaska Redistricting Board
was contending with both state and federal mandates, but a recent
decision by the U.S. Supreme Court deeming part of the federal Voting
Rights Act unconstitutional freed Alaska from federal oversight of its
voting districts, at least temporarily. Alaska was one of a handful of
states required by law to submit to federal oversight of its voting
practices because of past findings that Alaska Native voter rights were
infringed upon with the use of English language tests to determine voter
eligibility.

Now freed of the federal oversight, the
redistricting board can offer up a plan that meets Alaska’s
constitutional requirements primarily, requirements that are often in
contrast to federal mandates, some Alaska Supreme Court judges noted.