A constitutional amendment that would enshrine early voting and no excuse absentee voting is back before the General Assembly.
State Sen. Darius Brown introduced early and absentee changes.
Republican legislators, following the lead of the national party, have opposed the voting reforms and won a partial victory in a lawsuit with the Supreme Court agreeing that the Constitution did not allow no-excuse absentee voting.
Widening voting options might not help Republicans who are outnumbered by Democrats in Delaware voter registrations. The party is also in danger of being outnumbered by independents who are not able to vote in primary election.
Currently, individuals must request an absentee ballot and indicate they will be out of state on election day. Enforcement of the law is rare to nonexistent.
In the GOP suit, the high court determined Republicans filing the suit lacked standing and ruled that early voting would continue and those with permanent absentee voting status could continue to get mailed ballots. Republicans indicted they did not intend to take away permanent absentee status for the disabled and those in nursing homes.
The House and Senate had earlier passed legislation authorizing the two forms of voting, which were allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This time around, the early voting option, while not having as long a time period as in many states, has Republican co-sponsors.
The absentee amendment, which has no GOP co-sponsors, would require those seeking to vote absentee to request a ballot. That would seem to answer Republican claims of voter fraud if ballots were automatically mailed to registered voters, despite relatively few cases nationwide.
Getting the amendment into the constitution will require a supermajority of both houses passing legislation during two consecutive sessions.
On the national scene, President Trump recently signed an executive order adding requirements such as proof of citizenship through a passport or other identification and looking at voter rolls in a search for non-citizens.
The order is expected to be the subject of a court fight, due to its sweeping nature that would supersede state laws.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.