Alaska Cost of Relocating State Capital (1978)
From Ballotpedia
The Alaska Cost of Relocating the State Capital Initiative appeared on the 1978 ballot in Alaska.
Contents |
1978 election results
| Alaska Cost of Relocating State Capital (1978) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes or no | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes
| - | 55.7% | ||
| No | - | 44.3% | ||
| Total votes | - | 100% precincts | ||
It was the eighth initiative ever to appear on the Alaskan ballot and the fourth to be approved.
Ballot Language
The language on the ballot said, "This proposal would require that all costs of the capital relocation be determined. All costs include: moving personnel and offices to the relocation site; planning, building, furnishing, using and financing a new capital having facilities equal to those at the current capital and those required by the 1974 capital move initiative; and the social, economic and environmental impact to the present and relocation sites. In addition, it would require that a bond issue including all bondable costs of capital relocation be approved by a majority of voters prior to the expenditure of state money to relocate the capital."
Ballot initiatives about moving state capitol
Between 1960 and 2002, six ballot initiatives and three legislative referrals regarding the location and costs of Alaska's state capital have been on the Alaskan ballot.
Indeed, the first initiative ever to appear on the Alaskan ballot was about the location of the state capital, when the Cook Inlet State Capital Initiative proposed moving the capital from Juneau to the "Cook Inlet-Railbelt area". This proposal earned 44% of the vote.
Fans of relocating the capital tried again two years later, with the State Capital Relocation Initiative, this time proposing a move to "western Alaska" but not "within thirty miles of Anchorage". This proposal also earned 44% of the vote.
In 1978, Alaskans came back with the present initiative, approving it by a margin of 55.7%.
In 1994, Alaskans came back with another measure, Costs of Moving State Capitol, also requiring a determination of the cost of moving the capitol. The same year, 1994, Alaskans rejected the opportunity to move the state capitol to Wasilla.
The most recent initiative, which failed, was in 2002 when the Initiative to Move Locations of Legislative Sessions was on the ballot.[1],[2]
