Last June, Republicans of the Delaware House of Representatives literally walked out on their elected duty, withholding their votes on the pending multimillion-dollar bond bill and others (please see delawarepublic.org/politics-government/2023-06-30/house-republicans-walk-out-block-bond-bill-over-seaford-charter-amendment).
This radical action was to protest the defeat of Seaford Republican Rep. Danny Short’s bill (known as House Substitute 1 for House Bill 121) to allow hundreds of nonperson business entities, such as limited liability companies, to vote in Seaford municipal elections.
A Short parliamentary gambit allowed the Delaware House to reconsider this defeated bill and, under continued Republican threat, it was passed. At that point, with little/no chance of passage in the Delaware Senate, the Seaford nonperson voting bill assumed a zombielike status upon the June 30, 2023, expiry of the legislative session.
However, Rep. Short and Sen. Bryant Richardson, R-Seaford, have breathed new life into a measure that should have remained comatose. Now, Seaford nonperson voting is scheduled for consideration in the Delaware Senate’s Executive Committee early in 2024.
Why everyone should oppose nonperson voting
Rep. Danny Short has called opposition to this bill a wrongful attempt to micromanage the city of Seaford’s business. Rep. Short is dead wrong about that.
Opposing this bill is opposing a potential power grab by the mayor and City Council, which poses an existential threat to governing norms in Seaford!
This charter change could result in the injection of 250-plus nonperson voters into Seaford elections, which:
I hope that you share my strong belief in the democratic principle that “voting is meant to be of the people, by the people and for the people — not LLCs.”
Seaford’s mayor and City Council should have their hands full solving the woeful lack of voter turnout: About 93% of those eligible, or 4,680 voters, did not vote in Seaford’s April 15, 2023, municipal elections.
Please let your opinion(s) be heard by members of the Delaware Senate and especially the Senate Executive Committee (chair David P. Sokola, D-Newark; vice chair Bryan Townsend, D-Newark; Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman, D-Wilmington; Sarah McBride, D-Wilmington; Marie Pinkney, D-Bear; Gerald W. Hocker, R-Ocean View; and Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown), which can be accessed by using the legis.delaware.gov website and/or emailing them through Ryan C. Dunphy (ryan.dunphy@delaware.gov), who will pass your thoughts on to senators.
Let’s make it a happy new year by opposing/defeating nonperson voting!
Dan Cannon
Seaford
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.