Nonpartisan redistricting? Reform efforts meet reality.

New commissions, some made up of average citizens, are struggling to overcome partisanship as they redraw congressional and state legislative lines. Some say reformers need to rethink the whole process.

Redistricting was supposed to look different this year. 

In the 10 years since the nation’s congressional and state legislative maps were last redrawn, a record-breaking number of states passed ballot measures intended to make the process more bipartisan and transparent. The citizen-led efforts were cheered by reform advocates as a win for American democracy, a sign that voters from both...