Why Should Delaware Care?
A new bill would amend the Delaware Constitution to reduce barriers to voting in the First State. The amendment would remove outdated voting restrictions in the state Constitution that are misaligned with the U.S. Constitution and federal law.
A new bill aims to amend the Delaware Constitution to align it with the U.S. Constitution and federal law, while protecting the right to vote for immigrants, low-income communities and people convicted of a felony.
Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 180 would primarily remove outdated voting barriers still included in the state Constitution. It also would lower the legal voting age in Delaware’s Constitution down from 21 to 18 years old and remove a one-year residency requirement for voters, potentially opening up part-time residents to choose to vote in Delaware or elsewhere.
Notably few, if any, of the concerns are actively enforced in Delaware right now, but amending the Constitution would also prevent future leaders from trying to enforce those not specifically enshrined in federal law, such as literacy tests.
“It’s important that we have a Constitution that reflects both what is the law and what we believe as a state,” said the bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Kyle Evans Gay (D-Talleyville).
The bill is the first part of a constitutional amendment needed to change the First State’s constitution. The parent bill, SB 180, was first introduced by Gay in June 2023.
SS 1 differs from its parent bill by removing “work release” from the list of criminal sentences not included in the definition of “imprisonment.” The bill was introduced and adopted in lieu of SB 180 on June 11 and is awaiting a full floor vote.
What would the bill do?
Change constitutional voting age from 21 to 18 years old.
Despite the 26th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reduced the voting age from 21 to 18, Delaware’s Constitution still reflects the 21-year-old voting age requirement. The bill would align the federal and First State Constitutions.
Limit the loss of the right to vote for people convicted of a felony to only during the time of their imprisonment or until they’re pardoned, whichever comes first.
Currently, people who were convicted of a felony and completed their sentence are able to register to vote in Delaware. Imprisonment means actual periods of incarceration and does not include early release, supervised custody, community supervision, probation, parole, or suspension, per the bill text.
Removes the list of felonies that would disqualify a convicted person from the permanent right to vote. People convicted of a disqualifying felony are currently not able to register to vote in Delaware. Disqualifying felonies include:
Murder or manslaughter, except vehicular homicide.
Any felony “constituting an offense against public administration involving bribery or improper influence or abuse of office.”
Any felony constituting a sexual offense.
Prohibits the re-enfranchisement of a person who is convicted of a felony to be contingent on a monetary payment of any kind.
Removes the durational residency requirement to vote.
While a voter will still be required to be a resident at the time of registration, the bill would remove the one-year constitutional residency requirement and the 3-month residency requirement in a county.
Removes the literacy test requirement to vote in the Delaware Constitution that requires residents to “read this Constitution in the English language and write his or her name,” in order to qualify to vote.
Literacy tests are a remnant of Jim Crow-era restrictions that have been used to disqualify immigrants, low-income communities and Black and brown people from voting, per the bill text.
“Not only is that unenforceable, it’s also offensive,” Gay said. The requirement reflects a time in Delaware’s history when taking the right to vote was used as a way to “exclude individuals from our democracy,” she added.
House votes down early and absentee voting
The Delaware House of Representatives defeated a Constitutional amendment to bolster early and absentee voting in the state on June 13. The amendment would have done away with limitations to absentee voting while protecting early voting rights, requiring the state to offer early voting 10 days before elections.
The Senate passed the legislation in May 2023 before being defeated in the House and sent back to the Senate.
That bill comes on the back of Delaware Superior Court rulings that said the state’s absentee, mail-in and early voting processes violated the state Constitution. That ruling has been appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court, but legislators hope to make it moot by passing a Constitutional amendment to spell out the guidelines.
Both Democrats and Republicans have offered versions of the amendment, and so far a compromise has not been brokered.
How does the constitution get amended?
Amending the Delaware Constitution requires the passage of an amendment during a legislative session as well as the passage of the bill by the successive General Assembly after the following general election.
That forces two different General Assemblies to approve amendments to the document that underpins all state laws.
An amendment to the state Constitution also requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of members in each chamber of the legislature, rather than a simple majority – intentionally setting a higher bar for such changes.
Have a question about or feedback on this story? Reach José Ignacio Castañeda Perez at jcastaneda@spotlightdelaware.org.
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