FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | September 15, 2022
Contact: Scott Goss (302) 744-4180
Delaware Senate President Pro Tempore Dave Sokola, Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend, and Senate Majority Whip Elizabeth Lockman issued the following statement regarding the Delaware Court of Chancery’s ruling on Senate Bill 320:
“As a result of a Republican-led effort to make voting as inconvenient as possible, there now exists a very real possibility that Delawareans could be denied the right to vote by mail in November.
On Wednesday evening, the Court of Chancery handed down an 87-page opinion on two lawsuits that upheld same-day voter registration but blocked the state from implementing vote-by-mail for the November 8 election.
As the Department of Elections and Department of Justice now consider their legal options, it has never been clearer that only one party is fighting to expand ballot access for all voters.
Since 2019, only two Republican votes have been needed to expand absentee voting to all Delawareans – effectively granting them the same rights held by voters in 23 other states. But after two years of negotiations those votes never materialized. Once the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 320 to instead provide a separate and distinct vote-by-mail option, the Republican Party sued the Department of Elections to prevent voters from accessing mail ballots.
While our hope is that the Department of Elections will ultimately prevail on appeal, the reality is voters can settle this matter on Election Day by electing more Democrats to the General Assembly and ensuring the GOP doesn’t have the votes it needs to block policies that are supported by 7 out of 10 Delawareans.
When you cast your ballot this November, ask yourself if you believe that open and accessible elections are vital for a functioning democracy. Because there is only one party fighting for the rights of every voter.”
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