Supreme Court overturns ruling that barred early, permanent absentee voting

In February, a Superior Court judge issued a s ruling striking down early voting and the state’s 14-year-old permanent absentee law.

The permanent absentee statute had passed the General Assembly in a unanimous vote.

 GOP State Sen. Gerald Hocker joined in a lawsuit that ended in the Superior Court decision, even though he had voted for permanent absentee voting as a way for the disabled, elderly and those in nursing homes did not have to go to the polls or request an absentee ballot for every election,  according to a release from the state Attorney General's Office. 

Under past law individuals could vote absentee before the election if stating they were out of town or otherwise unable to vote on election day.j

The Superior Court judge, up held an earlier Chancery Court ruling  that both early and permanent absentee voting violated the state constitution.

Attorney General Kathy Jennings  appealed the decision along with state's election commissioner.

The high court Court found that Hocker and co-plaintiff Michael Mennella, represented by former Delaware GOP Chair Jane Brady, lacked standing to bring the case.

"...we disagree with the Superior Court’s conclusion that Senator Hocker established standing as “a candidate," justices wrote. "We also find that plaintiffs’ arguments on standing not addressed by the Superior Court—based on Mennella’s purported position as an inspector of elections and each plaintiff’s position as a voter—do not establish that either has standing. And this lack of standing dictates that we should not address the plaintiffs’ substantive constitutional arguments." 

Republicans here and nationwide have claimed that early voting is subject to fraud and filed suits in a number of states that had early voting. They pointed to ballots being mailed to households where the occupants no longer resided. Election officials said ballots used improperly would have been flagged.

Delaware adopted early voting during the Covid-19 pandemic but had fallen behind other states, such as Florida and California in adopting the system. Republican legislators kept early voting from becoming authorized in the state constitution. 

“Enough of these thinly-veiled partisan attempts to suppress votes — especially of our most vulnerable citizens,” said  Jennings. “Whether you voted for me or not, this is your most fundamental right, and I promised never to stop fighting for it. I’m grateful to the court for its ruling and for agreeing to hear this case on an expedited basis so that Delawareans know their rights going into the September and November elections.”

Delawareans will retain the right to early voting and permanent absentee voting in all primary, general, and special elections.

In the last election, 56,000 Delawareans  voted early and roughly 21,000 — including veterans, the disabled, and caregivers — used permanent absentee ballots.