Delaware GOP files lawsuit against voting by mail

The Delaware Republican Party filed a lawsuit in the Court of Chancery Aug. 19 challenging Delaware’s vote-by-mail statute.

The lawsuit, filed by the Republican State Committee of Delaware along with residents John Foltz and Paula Manolakos – identified only as Delaware registered voters – contends that the statute violates Delaware’s Constitution, which provides that a voter must vote in person or, for limited reasons, by absentee ballot. 

“We want anyone who believes their health would be adversely affected if they voted in person, to vote absentee,” said Jane Brady, Delaware Republican Party chairwoman. “But we believe the vote-by-mail statute passed by the General Assembly is not constitutional in Delaware, and that the system is more subject to fraud than absentee ballots or voting in person.”

Department of Elections Commissioner Anthony Albence, who is named in the lawsuit along with the Department of Elections and the State of Delaware, said he heard about the lawsuit on Aug. 19 but he declined to comment.

The suit asks Chancery Court to stop universal voting by mail and to also declare House Bill 346 unconstitutional. In June, the General Assembly passed HB 346, signed later by Gov. Carney, to allow voting by mail for the 2020 election year. The bill expires in January 2021.

In the presidential primary, and for the state primary on Sept. 15, the Department of Elections mailed every registered Republican or Democrat voter on the voter list an application to vote remotely.

Several significant problems were noted with the implementation, Brady said.

First, many individuals who no longer reside in Delaware or at the address on file with the Department of Elections received an application, she said. Second, some individuals received applications properly addressed to them at their address, but the application inside the envelope was for a different individual who did not reside at their address, she said. And finally, many individuals who thought they voted did not have their vote counted.

“This vote-by-mail statute is not only unconstitutional and unnecessary, it is flawed, and has served to disenfranchise voters, not make it easier for them to vote,” said Brady.