Del. Court decision has Dems calling for national voting rights legislation

DELAWARE –  Officials from across the state of Delaware- responding to the state supreme court striking down a key voting rights extension.

The court found no-excuse-absentee voting and early voting violate Delaware’s Constitution.

In a statement, conservative members of the Delaware House and Senate, including Gerald Hocker who brought the original lawsuit against the voting expansion said they would be introducing measures to change the Delaware constitution to allow for more provisions like that bill to move forward in the future.

But Delaware’s Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester- who is up for a Senate seat this November is calling the court’s decision an act of voter suppression and is calling for federal action- to make sure absentee and early voting are protected.

“This court challenge just sets us back. What I hope is that and what I believe we need ultimately is to pass on a federal level the John R Lewis Voting Advance Voting Rights bill, because we need to make sure that across the country we don’t have these challenges and that we expand opportunity to vote instead of contract it,” Rep Blunt Rochester said.

Congresswoman Blunt Rochester tells us that neighboring states like Maryland and Pennsylvania have those absentee protections- and in 2020 they saw a record turnout of voters.