Snyder-Hall vows to expand voting rights

Claire Snyder-Hall

March 1, 2024

Event Date:

Tue, 02/27/2024 - 09:30 am

In 2024, our country faces one of the most important elections of our lifetime. All over the country, democracy is on the ballot, and Delaware is no exception. That is one of the reasons I decided to run for the state House in RD 14.

For the last three years, I served as executive director of Common Cause Delaware, a nonpartisan, statewide organization, and as part of my job, I worked closely with legislators to advance a small-d democracy agenda in Dover.

The good news is that MAGA extremists in Delaware have not been able to advance their post-2020 anti-democratic agenda in Dover. Given the current makeup of our legislature, MAGA forces simply cannot pass comprehensive omnibus voter suppression bills, as they have in other states, including Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Texas.

The bad news is that MAGA lawsuits in Delaware have resulted in some unfortunate court rulings that have greatly curtailed our freedom to vote. Consequently, right now Delaware is worse than Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Texas when it comes to the freedom to vote.

For example, just last week the Delaware Superior Court overturned early voting in the First State, a law CCDE strongly supported. Consequently, all four voter suppression states mentioned above allow early voting. Delaware does not.

In 2022, our state Supreme Court overturned vote-by-mail, a bill I worked tirelessly on, along with legislative leaders, organizational allies and CCDE members. Sadly, while Florida, Georgia and Iowa currently have vote by mail, Delaware does not.

Last week’s ruling also invalidated permanent absentee voting, a reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities. Florida, Georgia and Iowa all have vote-by-mail, so they don’t need permanent absentee voting, and Texas maintains a one-year absentee voting list. Delaware has neither.

Fortunately, we are not stuck with these outmoded voting laws. However, we are going to have to amend the state constitution to bring our voting processes into the 21st century. We have a supermajority of pro-voters in the state Senate. Now we need that in the House as well.

You know you can count on me to support the freedom to vote.

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