Last Friday, the Delaware Superior Court handed down a decision finding Delaware’s early voting law to be in violation of the state constitution.
Many House and Senate Republicans raised the unconstitutional nature of the legislation, House Bill 38, when it was debated in 2019. Unfortunately, our objections fell on deaf ears.
To be clear, we take no issue with in-person early voting. It is a convenience that many Delawareans have embraced and has been accepted by voters nationwide. In 2022, about 28% of all Delaware voters cast their ballot prior to Election Day. Until Friday’s ruling, Delaware was one of 46 states that offered early in-person voting.
Our main objection to the statute was that it violated the state constitution. We applaud the court for validating the arguments we made five years ago.
During the upcoming House of Representatives’ prefile on Thursday, we will be introducing a constitutional amendment to correctly implement the form of early voting that Delawareans used in the last election cycle, taking care to address the court’s objections.
State Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker (R-Ocean View), who was a party of the lawsuit that successfully overturned the flawed and unconstitutional early voting law, will be a prime sponsor of the new measure. Joining him will be the other members of the House and Senate Republican leadership.
We hope all legislators on both sides of the aisle will join us in support of this measure and enacting early voting that is legally sound and compliant with our state constitution.
State Sen. Gerald Hocker
State Sen. Brian Pettyjohn
State Rep. Mike Ramone
State Rep. Lyndon Yearick