Del. House of Representatives fails to pass no-excuse absentee voting bill

DELAWARE – The Delaware House of Representatives has failed to pass a bill that would allow no-excuse absentee voting.

On Thursday, the House failed to pass Senate Bill 3 with House Amendment 2, which was the first leg of an amendment to the state’s constitution that would allow for no-excuse absentee voting, protect ‘permanent absentee voters’ ability to receive absentee ballots without having to reapply every election cycle, and ensure early in-person voting in future elections. Many voting rights advocates also feel this is a missed opportunity to address critical election accessibility issues.

“The ACLU of Delaware is not backing down from these critical and necessary reforms,” said Andrew Bernstein, Cozen Voting Rights Fellow at ACLU-DE. “Two-thirds of states already offer no-excuse absentee voting and only three other states in the country do not offer early in-person voting options: Alabama, Mississippi, and New Hampshire – states with long histories of disenfranchising voters. “Delaware has become a tragic outlier in our nation when it comes to protecting and expanding access to the ballot,” Bernstein continued, “That’s why we recently launched our Every Vote Counts campaign, a multi-year effort to amend Delaware’s constitution, bring our state into the 21st century, and ensure Delaware becomes a beacon of democracy and strong voter engagement.”

The ACLU of Delaware says it is disappointed that the General Assembly didn’t choose to adopt the expansive framework for both absentee and early voting, but is encouraging all Delaware voters to learn more about where the candidates stand on critical voting rights issues before casting their ballots this election season.