Roads and harbors plan passes, constitutional convention doesn’t

Alaska history repeats itself, at least when it comes to the state’s constitution.

Voters soundly defeated Ballot Measure 1 on Tuesday. It asked whether there should be a constitutional convention.

Had it passed, the state’s entire governing document would have been up for review. But it didn’t.

With most precincts reporting, no votes outnumbered yeses by more than two-to-one. To put it another way, close to 75,000 more people expressed opposition than support.

That matches the sentiment of all previous every-10-years votes on the matter.

While Alaskans were down on a constitution rewrite, they were up on funding transportation infrastructure.

Bonding proposition A passed with 56 percent of ballots cast in favor, and 44 percent opposed.

The $453 million measure will fund road, harbor and rail improvements throughout the state.

Many of the larger projects – such as $50 million toward Anchorage Port Expansion – are for Southcentral communities.

But $65 million is targeted for Southeast projects. They include work on Ketchikan’s Shelter Cove Road, the Haines Boat Harbor, Sitka’s Katlian Bay Road, the city’s industrial park dock and Juneau’s Glacier Highway and Mendenhall Loop Road.