By Rachel Sawicki

Delawareans will not be able to vote by mail in the 2022 election without further action from the General Assembly, but the Delaware Voting Rights Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware and several state lawmakers gathered Monday for a discussion on implementing a permanent vote-by-mail system and other provisions.

Voting by mail is not a permanent system in Delaware, unlike 34 other states.

Sen. Kyle Evans-Gay, D-Talleyville, said that vote by mail is a tool for the unexpected and that taking away that opportunity would disenfranchise seniors.

“We have always tried to do our best, but we can’t do better than putting the opportunity to vote in their own hands, to control when and where they vote and in a way that is convenient and accessible for them if they cannot make it to the polls on their own,” Sen. Gay said Monday.

More state residents than ever before voted in the 2020 election, thanks to the availability of vote-by-mail options spurred by the pandemic. The validity and reliability of mail-in ballots were widely questioned in the months after, however, and conversations about such options are starting up again ahead of midterm elections next year.

Anthony Albence, Delaware Department of Elections commissioner, said that typically, only about 5% of state voters vote ahead of Election Day by mail or absentee ballot, but in 2020, around 32% of ballots were mailed in. Additionally, the state had the highest turnout rate in history, at around 69%.

“If you did a vote by mail last year or an absentee ballot, there is always that security from end to end and only one active ballot per voter,” Mr. Albence said. “The most important thing is preserving the right to vote and making sure it is not abridged in any way.”

Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, automatic voter registration through the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles will be initiated. Senate Bill 5, passed this summer, was sponsored by Sen. Gay, who said Monday that it is an opt-out system, as opposed to the current opt-in procedure. Voters will be able to register with a political party when they receive their registration information ahead of Election Day or online at any time.

However, registering to vote still requires a lot of work in advance of Election Day, which is why many lawmakers are fighting for same-day voter registration.

Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker, D-Wilmington, said that time is limited for people these days, so voting needs to be made easier.

“This is not a partisan issue,” she said. “This is an opportunity for all of our constituencies to be engaged in the process.”

Only members of the two major political parties, Democrat and Republican, can vote in primary elections. Party changes and registrations are due at the end of May to be able to vote with a party. Additionally, voters must register four weeks ahead of time to vote in primaries, which would be eliminated with same-day voter registration.

Absentee voters also must apply for ballots with a reason for their absence. Rep. David Bentz, D-Christiana, said those reasons are limiting, but legislation to eliminate them came to a halt in the General Assembly this year. Since House Bill 73 — the first leg of a constitutional amendment that would eliminate limitations as to when an individual may vote absentee — is related to language in the state constitution, it must pass twice. It passed in 2019, but HB 75, the final part, failed to pass this year.

“House Bill 73 flew through the House and Senate in 2019. It was immensely popular,” Rep. Bentz said. “Political rhetoric around absentee voting changed (in 2020). Accusations were made about it being insecure and unsafe, which are completely unfounded, and we found ourselves failing to get the votes required this time (to pass HB 75), when a lot of individuals changed their vote on the issue and changed their stance on whether or not absentee voting is something we should have in Delaware.”

Sen. Marie Pinkney, D-Bear, chair of the Senate Corrections & Public Safety Committee, discussed voter rights for incarcerated people and probationers.

“We continue to punish people once they’re released from prison,” she said. “Delaware is one of only nine states where people who are released from prison and are still on probation and parole don’t have access to voting.”

Additionally, Delaware is one of 11 states that has permanent disenfranchisement for at least some people with criminal convictions, unless the government approves restoration, she said.

“If these are people that are coming back out into our communities that at some point will be released back into our family as a state, then continuing to engage them in society is important,” Sen. Pinkney said. “If we really want people to be rehabilitated and to maintain that rehabilitation, we need to engage them and make them feel like they’re not being thrown away. How is that person supposed to ever fully reengage into a community if they’re always stigmatized or always forgotten?”

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., said Delaware’s congressional delegation is not giving up on voting rights acts in Washington, despite recent blocks in the Senate.

“Voting is connected to all of our rights,” she said. “No person and no party should be able to block us from our fundamental right of voting.”

The Freedom to Vote Act was blocked by a Republican filibuster in October, but Democrats are still pushing for the legislation. Federally, it would allow for same-day voter registration, establish automatic voter registration, protect and expand access to voting by mail, establish 15 days of early voting (including at least two weekends), restore voting rights to individuals who have been previously incarcerated, prevent partisan gerrymandering and protect against voter intimidation.