Not in Delaware, where protecting incumbents has been a bipartisan project every 10 years. The two major political parties are to blame. Soon after the General Assembly returns to session, we can expect members to start work on reapportioning the Legislature based on the 2000 census numbers. If past practice is any indication of how legislators will act, the members will draft proposals that guarantee themselves and their colleagues a lock in the next election. There is no nod to fairness or the basic principles of democracy.
Every decade there are proposals to authorize an independent outline of new districts.
University of Delaware demographers are more than capable and willing to take on this task. But legislators reject such an approach because they wouldn't control it from start to finish. And that's the rub. And no one is suggesting that the General Assembly abrogate its responsibility in this matter. It must have the final say and it would not be wrong for legislators to tweak lines for legitimate reasons.