Voting amendments filed

A pair of amendments have been filed to make early, in-person voting and no-excuse absentee voting constitutional rights.

Both amendments are sponsored by Sen. Darius Brown, D-Wilmington, with support from Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, and are the first legs that require two-thirds approval by each house of the General Assembly in successive assemblies. The 153rd session is in the first of its two-year length.

Senate Bill 2 would authorize early, in-person voting for the general election, a primary election and a special election filling a vacancy in the General Assembly. Early, in-person voting would be held 10 calendar days before the date of the general election, primary election and special election, including the Saturday and Sunday immediately before the election. 

Coming after a Supreme Court decision on absentee voting, SB 3 would create an absolute right to vote by absentee ballot without an excuse. Under the amendment, a qualified voter who desires to cast an absentee ballot must request an absentee ballot from the Department of Elections for each election cycle, unless the qualified voter is granted permanent absentee status. 

The state’s current absentee voting law authorizes permanent absentee status for various reasons, including sickness or permanently disability, serving in the armed forces, or because a voter is living outside of the U.S.

For each election in which a qualified voter votes by absentee ballot under a permanent absentee status, the act states, the qualified voter must take an oath or affirmation that they remain eligible for permanent absentee status. The act also requires all absentee ballots to include an oath or affirmation that the qualified voter’s vote is free from improper influence. 

Both bills await action in the Senate Elections and Government Affairs Committee.