Del. Lawmakers push to remove double registration requirement for local elections
DOVER, Del. – Lawmakers in Dover are hoping to end the practice of dual voter registration in the first state. The practice currently requires voters to have to register a 2nd time to vote in local races, on top of their voter registration for state-wide and national races.
Advocates for the change say it would streamline the voting process, and stop people, who believed they were registered, from being turned away during local elections.
“We just want to make sure that when people sign up in Delaware to vote and they are proven to be eligible, that we allow them to vote in local elections,” said the bill’s sponsor Rep. Bryan Shupe. Shupe tells us this bill had been tabled and non-reintroduced in the previous legislative session, and is hoping increased bipartisan support in both the house and senate will help the bill pass, ending the confusing voters.
“That’s where the confusion comes from that people move here are able to vote in the statewide elections federal elections or school board but for some reason can’t vote in their local town elections or referendums,” Rep. Shupe said. Rep. Shupe says Senator Elizabeth Lockman has introduced her own version of the bill in the senate and is pushing to have it be introduced during this session, a move Shupe sees as crucial for getting it to pass.
“It’s one thing to put names and co-sponsor a bill but to re-author your own bill and to introduce into your chamber is amazing support from Senator Lockman because her district is in an area with this need to double register too,” Rep. Shupe said.
Some localities in Delaware are running ahead of the state-wide effort, voting locally to remove the requirements.
“The hope and intent were to remove that obstacle that you have to make a visit to city hall and sign a book if you are registered in national state elections you are now registered in your city elections as long as you live in that city,” said Seaford Mayor David Genshaw.
Mayor Genshaw tells us his town has just recently removed the measure but believes that decision should stay in the town, rather than a forced removal of the policy from lawmakers.
“It would be my preference that every town has the right to decide what is best for their community,” he said.
Rep. Shupe tells us as the former mayor of Milford, he understands the concerns and has carved out specific language in his bill to allow for local input and control even if the state would remove the requirement for double registration.
“What we’ve done with this bill is in this process; allowing them to keep local control through unique requirements and voting outside of just people who live just inside town if that’s what they want in their charter,” Shupe said, referring to a measure adopted by Rehoboth Beach, Bethany, and Lewes that allows those with significant properties and investments in the town to vote despite not being full-time residents.
“Anyone with those special exceptions, we need to hear from you and reach out to our partners in Dover we can make sure that can be a part of this law,” Shupe said.
