Letter to the Editor: SDARJ urges passage of no-excuse absentee-voting legislation

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The Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice strongly supports House Bill 75, a constitutional amendment that will allow the legislature to enact commonsense, secure absentee and early-voting provisions. The legislation passed convincingly in the 2019-20 legislative session and is on the ready list to be voted on in the current session; when passed in this subsequent General Assembly it will amend the state Constitution.

The Delaware Constitution currently restricts the number of reasons that a resident can vote absentee — and seeking to avoid exposure to the coronavirus is not included as a legitimate reason. The Delaware Constitution is prescriptive: Instead of just permitting absentee voting, it defines the limited circumstances under which absentee voting is permitted as military service, business or occupation, illness or vacation.

Delaware’s use of emergency absentee and early-voting processes in 2020 due to COVID-19 proves that they are secure and useful. There were no abuses, no fraud, no problems. The process allowed all people to vote in a manner consistent with their lives, something not allowed with polls open for only part of the day on a Tuesday.

Look at the facts. Turnout in our state for president in 2020 was 68.8%; in 2016, 65.3%; and in 2012, 65%. Permissive absentee and early voting did not distort or challenge our very competent election-administration system.

Importantly, older people; those working with long commutes; those having child or multiple generational-care challenges/responsibilities, multiple jobs or mobility issues; health care or business owners or first responders who work 12-plus-hour shifts; or those who for any other reason want to ensure that nothing keeps them from voting will have a choice with this legislation. There is no partisan tinge to these normal issues of life.

Many of the obstacles created by in-person voting requirements (time off from work, transportation, health care, etc.) disproportionately impact people of color. No-excuse absentee voting will help these communities.

During the 2019-20 legislative session, the amendment passed with bipartisan majorities in both chambers. No facts have changed. Delaware’s 2020 experience supports it passing again, and a national controversy that does not touch Delaware should not change the result.

The Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice urges the General Assembly to pass this especially important constitutional amendment. Delaware should be proud that, at a time when other states are seeking to suppress the right to vote, it is seeking to expand that right.

Charlotte King, chair and founder

Clara S. Licata and Thomas Irvine, co-chairs, Legislative/Advocacy Committee

Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice

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