Delaware Voting Rights Coalition

On Friday, October 7, 2022, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a ruling that overturned the vote by mail and same-day registration laws that were passed during the 2022 legislative session.

This decision was a devastating blow to voting rights in Delaware. Without a constitutional amendment, Delaware will be forced to navigate barriers such as arbitrary registration deadlines and long lines at the polls. As a consequence of this ruling, Delaware’s registration deadline will remain one of the longest deadlines allowed by federal law, drastically reducing voter engagement in all of our elections.

Delawareans overwhelmingly want to be able to cast their ballots freely and fairly, and vote by mail and same day registration improved access securely for thousands of voters. Delaware’s General Assembly must work now to pass constitutional amendments in order to enact these changes permanently. The Delaware Voting Rights Coalition remains committed to these advoacting for a consitutional amendment that expands access to the ballot for all voters.

Voting is a right—not a privilege, and voting restrictions fall particularly hard on systems-involved individuals. Due to racial bias in the criminal justice system, barriers to voting while incarcerated, restrictions on voting while on robation, and felony disenfranchisement laws disproportionately affect Black and brown people, who often face harsher sentences than white people for the same offenses.

In Delaware, thousands of people are disenfranchised every election because they are incarcerated. Those who are held in pretrial detention or convicted of misdemeanors do not legally lose their voting rights, but still encounter insurmountable barriers when trying to cast their ballot. During the 2022 Midterm Elections, there is no recored of a single eligible incarcerated individual in Delaware successfully casting a ballot.

Voting allows people to remain connected to their communities while incarcerated, and helps facilitate the re-entry process. Delaware lawmakers must understand the importance of maintaining and fostering this connection, and the role that access to the ballot plays in encouraging civic participation and engagement. The Delaware Voting Rights Coalition is committed to ensuring that elected officials chamption reforms that allow incarcerated individuals to request, receive, and return a ballot.

Even though one in four adults in Delaware identifies as having a disability, voters with disabilities continue to face some of the greatest barriers to voting in our elections- from inaccessible parking to public education and candidate information that are unavailable in accessible media formats. 

Federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, Voting Rights Act, and Help America Vote Act requires states to:

• Provide voters with disabilities the “full and equal opportunity to vote."
• Make polling places fully accessible to voters with disabilities.
• Have at least one voting system at each polling place that allows people with disabilities to vote privately and independently.
• Allow voters with disabilities to receive in-person help at the polls from a person of their choosing (except an agent of their employer or union).
• Provide the same opportunity for access and participation, including privacy and independence, that other voters receive.

The Delaware Department of Elections and the state can improve accessibility for voters with disabilities now by ensuring physical access during Early Voting and on Election Day, creating and supporting better transportation options, and developing a simple and effective process for the electronic delivery and return of absentee ballots for those who qualify.