Ellen Lockyer/KSKA

            The U.S. Justice Department late Wednesday afternoon gave its approval -- or preclearance -- to Alaska's new redistricting plan. Alaska Redistricting Board Chair Taylor Bickford says the Amended Proclamation Plan can now be used as a voting map for the November elections.

            The DOJ approval came in the form of a letter to the Redistricting Board. The move does not bar subsequent litigation, but it does make moot a pending lawsuit that was to have been heard today (Thursday) in federal court. That suit hinged on a complaint that the state division of elections was going forward with election plans before the DOJ approved the new redistricting map.