Delaware’s head of elections sued over voter roll information

Delaware’s state election commissioner faces a lawsuit after federal officials say he refused to provide voter information required under federal law.

"Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a Dec. 2 press release. "States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally and that all voters have confidence in election results. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws."

Delaware and five other states – Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington – were hit with federal lawsuits Dec. 2 for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request, joining seven that were sued in September – California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania 

In Delaware District Court, Delaware State Elections Commissioner Anthony Albence is the sole defendant in the case prompted by his formal refusal Sept. 16 to provide voter registration data, according to court documents.

In particular, federal officials asked for an electronic copy of Delaware’s computerized statewide voter registration list that includes a voter’s full name, date of birth, residential address, a state driver’s license number or the last four digits of the voter’s social security number “as required by the Help America Vote Act to register individuals for federal elections.”

An Aug. 14 letter sent by federal officials said “that HAVA specifies that the last four digits of a social security number … shall not be considered a social security number conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters.” The letter continued to say that information collected by the U.S. Justice Department will be maintained consistent with Privacy Act protections.

According to court documents, Albence responded a day later with some information, but said he needed clarifications about how privacy concerns, including application of the 1974 Privacy Act, impacted Delaware’s duty to provide the requested information.

About a month later, court records state, Albence let federal officials know he would not give federal officials the voter information they requested.

“Commissioner Albence refused to provide the records requested, as described in his letter dated Sept. 16, 2025,” court records state.

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a press release that the Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.

According to lawsuits, the attorney general is uniquely charged by Congress with the enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act , which were designed by Congress to ensure that states have proper and effective voter registration and voter list maintenance programs. The attorney general also has the Civil Rights Act of 1960 at her disposal to demand the production, inspection and analysis of the statewide voter registration lists, the press release states.

"Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance," Bondi said.

ACLU sues Fenwick Island 

The ACLU of Delaware filed a lawsuit Dec. 4 over the Town of Fenwick Island’s practice of allowing artificial entities such as LLCs and corporations to vote in municipal elections.

For years, the group said Fenwick Island has permitted nonhuman entities like corporations to cast ballots in municipal elections which determine governance of the town. Under the town of Fenwick Island's charter, court records state artificial entities can cast ballots in the municipal elections if they own property in the town. This has created a system where corporations wield electoral power equal to that of human voters, undermining the principle of one person, one vote, the ACLU said in a press release.

“Our lawsuit seeks to restore constitutional protections for local democracy by ensuring that only actual human voters, the people who live with the consequences of municipal decisions, determine the future of their community,” the press release states.