Analyzing Delaware’s Adjusted Redistricting Data

Overview

Delaware uses adjusted (or modified) data for state legislative redistricting.

• 989,948 total population in the original PL file
• 989,598 total population in the adjusted PL file
• -350 total population difference between the two

Even in states where where the total population is unchanged, the distribution of population within the state can be affected.

To give you a sense for how these population shifts affect Delaware’s redistricting, the average district sizes in Delaware are:

• 24,136 people per state House district
• 47,123 people per state Senate district
• 989,598 people per Congressional district

The dataset used to create this report is the official redistricting dataset.

County Level Analysis

See the appendix for a detailed breakdown of county level population changes.

Block Level Analysis

In general, the changes in block population are not uniform: most blocks are unaffected by adjustment, while a handful of blocks lose a large amount of population that goes to a larger number of blocks in smaller quantities.

• 20,198 census blocks in Delaware
• 17,854 census blocks have the same population following adjustment
• 2,336 census blocks gained population following adjustment
• 8 census blocks lost population following adjustment (Of the 8 census blocks that lost population following reallocation, 8 contained facilities according to our analysis conducted with PPI data.)
• 0 census block(s) with negative population following adjustment

Official Language

The official language for Delaware’s adjustment is:

(a) The General Assembly, in determining the reapportionment and redistricting for the State, applying the criteria set forth in § 804 of this title, and using the official reporting of the federal decennial census as set forth in § 805 of this title, shall not count as part of the population in a given district boundary any incarcerated individual who: (1) Was incarcerated in a state or federal correctional facility, as determined by the decennial census; and (2) Was not a resident of the State before the person’s incarceration. (b) The General Assembly, in determining the reapportionment and redistricting for the State as provided in this subchapter, shall count as part of the population in a given district boundary any individual incarcerated in a state or federal correctional facility, as determined by the decennial census, if the individual was a resident of the State prior to incarceration. Such individual shall be counted for reapportionment and redistricting purposes at the individual’s last known residence prior to incarceration. (c) This section shall not apply to the redistricting of the State following the 2010 federal decennial census. This section shall apply to the redistricting of the State following each federal decennial census thereafter.