On December 4, 2025, the ACLU of Delaware filed a lawsuit challenging the Town of Fenwick Island’s practice of allowing nonresident property owners and artificial entities such as LLCs and trusts to vote in municipal elections, despite the representatives of those interests not residing in the community that their vote influences.
For years, Fenwick Island has permitted non-resident and non-human entities like corporations to cast ballots on local regulations, safety measures, and policy decisions that directly affect year-round residents. Under current Election & Voter Information provided by the town of Fenwick Island, "every property owner as of March 1 prior to the annual municipal election, whether a natural person or artificial entity, including but not limited to corporations, partnerships, trusts, and limited liability companies, and who is registered to vote, if provided by ordinance, shall have one vote." This has created a system where corporations wield electoral power equal to that of actual residents, undermining the principle of one person, one vote.
Our lawsuit seeks to restore constitutional protections for local democracy by ensuring that only actual human residents, the people who live with the total consequences of municipal decisions, determine the future of their community.
Democracy belongs to the people who live it every day. When artificial entities and corporate interests can cast votes equal to those of real residents, the scales tip away from community needs and toward private interests and profit. ACLU-DE stands firmly in defense of fair, human elections, and the fundamental right to meaningful self-governance.
