Fifty-one years ago, on August 27, 1974, Alaskan voters approved Initiative 1, a ballot measure that began the process to move the state capital from Juneau to a city in Western Alaska. It was the third measure on the ballot in fourteen years that would have required a change in the capital city.

Alaskans have voted on more ballot measures concerning the location of their state capital than any other state in the country. As Alaska is the second youngest state in the nation, becoming a member of the union in 1959 before only Hawaii, it begs the question: Why did Alaskans vote so much on the location of the state capital? 

Juneau, the capital city of Alaska, is a city located in the Alaskan panhandle in the southeastern-most part of the state, along the border of Canada. As of 2020, the city’s population was 32,255. 

Juneau has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when it took over as the seat of government from Sitka. Before Alaska joined the union as a state, Juneau was the capital of the District of Alaska.

Shortly after Alaska became a state in 1959, voters decided a ballot measure in 1960 that would have mandated a move of the state capital to the Cook Inlet-Railbelt region (referred to in contemporary news articles as the Anchorage area). 

The measure was supported by Robert Atwood, publisher of The Anchorage Daily Times. He stated that the capital should be located closer to the state’s commercial and population hub, which was the Cook Inlet at the time. Furthermore, supporters of the measure stated that other states had set a precedent for moving state capitals. According to The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, more than 20 states had moved their capitals in the five years after they achieved statehood. 

Opponents of the measure pointed to Brazil as an example of why moving the capital would be detrimental to the state’s finances. Brazil, which had previously decided to move its capital city to Brasilia, had at that time surpassed $500 million in expenses related to moving the capital. 

Many of the same arguments for and against the capital move would be repeated throughout the years as eight more ballot measures concerning the location of the state capital were placed on the ballot. Voters defeated the 1960 measure with 55.9% voting no. 

In 1962, voters decided on a second ballot measure that would have mandated a capital move to a location “in Western Alaska, to a site not within thirty miles of Anchorage.” While the measure did not propose a specific city, it outlined a process by which senators would select three potential locations. If the 1962 measure was approved, the three cities would be put before voters to decide the next capital. However, the three cities were never determined as voters defeated the measure.

On Aug. 27, 1974, voters decided on a third measure aimed at moving the location of the capital. This measure was similar to the 1962 measure; it did not propose a specific city, just a site “in Western Alaska at least 30 miles from Anchorage and Fairbanks,” chosen by voters from options prepared by a selection committee. This was the first measure to be approved by voters, with 56.6% voting yes.

In 1976, voters chose between the three cities proposed by the selection committee: Larson Lake, Mount Yenlo, and Willow. Willow won the majority vote with 53.2% of voters selecting the city. Larson Lake and Mount Yenlo finished second and third, with 31.4% and 15.3% of voters supporting the options, respectively. 

The move of the capital to Willow encountered a roadblock. In 1978, voters approved a ballot measure, known colloquially as the FRANK initiative (Fiscally Responsible Alaskans Needing Knowledge), that did two things. First, it required the state to determine the cost of relocating the capital. Second, it prohibited the state from spending any state funds on a capital move without receiving voter approval on a bond measure to fund the change. That same year, voters rejected a bond measure that would have authorized the state to grant $966 million in bonds to fund the capital move. 

Four years later, in 1982, voters decided on a ballot measure that would have permitted the state to issue $2.8 billion in bonds to fund the capital move. The ballot measure also contained a condition that if voters rejected the $2.8 billion in bonds, the capital move to Willow would be abandoned. 

The Christian Science Monitor reported in 1982 that the supporters of the capital move had a plan to offset the costs of the capital move. Land in Willow was cheaper, plentiful, and owned by the state. Moving the capital would allow the government to stop leasing office space in Juneau and build its own government buildings in Willow.

But the economic situation in Alaska had been negatively affected by the 1980s oil glut, and some voters felt spending state funds to move the capital was unacceptable. An unnamed government worker told the Christian Science Monitor, ”Given the current economic situation, the idea of building a new city in the wilderness is so laughable that not even Alaskans, as ridiculous as they are, would vote for that.” When 52.8% of voters rejected the ballot measure, the attempt to move the state capital to Willow ended.

In 1994, proponents of the capital move sent the issue back to the ballot. The initiative would have moved the state capital from Juneau to Wasilla. Voters rejected the initiative, with 54.6% voting no. Also in 1994, voters approved an initiative that required the state to notify voters of the total cost for moving the state legislature or the state capital, and gain voter approval of a bond issue to cover the costs associated with a move. 

In 2002, Alaska voters decided on an initiative that would have moved the location of Alaska’s legislative sessions to a location in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. This initiative would not have changed the location of the capital city, only where the state legislature meets. 

Arguments supporting the relocation of legislative sessions remained consistent with past arguments supporting the capital city move, mainly focusing on the need to grant legislative session access to the population center of the state and cutting costs by using state-owned government buildings. Arguments against the legislature’s relocation focused on how the measure would affect the FRANK initiative. 

The 2002 initiative would have moved the location of legislative sessions, but it would also have allowed the state to change the location of the legislature without notifying voters or gaining voter approval. If the initiative were passed, the state would still be unable to change the state capital city without voter approval, but it would not be under the same restrictions when considering the location of the legislature.

The FRANK Committee opposed the measure, stating that while they did not take a position on the location of the capital or where the state legislature meets, altering the FRANK initiative would be detrimental to the people’s right to be informed on state spending. 

Alaskan voters defeated the initiative with 67.2% voting no. 

The 2002 initiative was the last initiative on the ballot in Alaska that concerned the movement of the state capital. But legislation that would have relocated the state capital has been considered in the state legislature as recently as 2022. That year, state Reps. Christopher Kurka (R-7) and David Eastman (R-27) introduced House Bill 311 (HB 311), which would have moved the state capital to Willow. HB 311 would also have repealed the requirement that voters approve both a move of the state capital and the funding of a move. The bill died in committee and was not approved by either the state House or the state Senate. 

Today, supporters of a capital move state that Juneau is unreasonably inaccessible to the majority of Alaskans. Former state Rep. Mark Neuman (R-8) says that a city closer to Anchorage would be more accessible to Alaskans than Juneau. Juneau is the only state capital that is inaccessible by rail and road. Due to the nature of the city sitting between the Coast Mountain Range and the Pacific Ocean, any road trip to Juneau requires boarding a ferry. The only road that accesses Juneau is the Alaskan Marine Highway, a ferry system.

The Alaska Committee opposes a move of either the state legislature or the capital city, and supports maintaining the capital of Alaska in Juneau. According to the Alaska Committee, the location of the state’s population centers being far from Juneau is a non-issue. A statement on their website states, “The truth is that the majority of capitals in this country are located away from major population centers and every two years, legislators are elected to serve in places like Salem, OR, Olympia, WA, Albany, NY, and Sacramento, CA. Somehow, those states don’t seem to think they need to move the legislature in order to get better legislators.” 

Of the nine states that have placed measures on the ballot that concern the location of the capital city, Alaskans have seen the most on the ballot. Omitting the 2002 initiative, which would have moved legislative sessions and not the capital city, Alaskans have decided on nine ballot measures. Oklahomans, with the next largest amount of ballot measures, have decided on five.

To explore more measures, visit Ballotpedia’s Alaska Historical Ballot Measures Factbook. The state capital measures are a few of the 220 ballot measures decided in Alaska between 1956 and 2024.

Read more: State capitals ballot measures

Alaska Initiative 1, New State Capital in Western Alaska Initiative (August 1974)