Voting Rights in 2026

The Delaware Supreme Court upheld Delaware’s early in-person voting law, but the law remains vulnerable to future legal challenges. No-excuse vote by mail laws were previously declared unconstitutional by the Delaware Supreme Court, meaning it also must be enacted by a constitutional amendment. The benefits of early voting include decreased Election Day stress for election officials, shorter lines, improved poll worker performance, fewer errors and voting system glitches, and increased voter accessibility and turnout. The option to vote early allows for more flexibility, especially among communities of color, low-income voters, and voters whose work or life schedule may make it difficult to vote at the polls on Election Day.

Research shows that offering extra days of early voting generally increases voter turnout, with early voting potentially producing as many as 56,000 new voters in Delaware’s elections.

During the 153rd General Assembly (2025-2026), Senate Bill 2 – a bill to protect Delaware’s 10 day early in-person voting period – and Senate Bill 3 – a bill that provides an absolute right to no-excuse absentee voting – passed in both the House and Senate. These bills must pass both chambers again during the 154th General Assembly (2026-2027) to enshrine them in the Delaware State Constitution and protect them from future legal challenges.

We must support candidates who are ready to champion and defend early voting amendments. Delawareans deserve accessibility and convenience when exercising their right to vote. Protecting early voting is a step in the right direction.

Voting is a right—not a privilege. Restrictions fall particularly hard on systems-involved individuals, where thousands of people in Delaware are disenfranchised even after their imprisonment. Due to racial bias in the criminal legal system, felony disenfranchisement laws disproportionately affect Black and brown people, who often face harsher sentences than white people for the same offenses. Criminal legal disenfranchisement laws have a direct connection to Jim Crow laws that were promoted after the Civil War, which sought to deny Black Americans the right to vote.

The expansion of the franchise can lead to safer communities. Studies have shown that the likelihood of recidivism drops when formerly incarcerated people can participate in the democratic process. Voting allows people to remain connected to their communities while incarcerated and helps facilitate the re-entry process.

As of 2024, felony disenfranchisement affected 6,214 Delaware voters. Of those voters, 53% were Black and 58% were no longer incarcerated. Delaware is among only 12 states which permanently disenfranchise at least some individuals with felony convictions, meaning that these citizens cannot have their rights restored even after they serve their sentence. Delaware must join nearly half of the states that allow people on probation and parole to vote—and then consider joining the ranks of Maine and Vermont who allow all people to vote, no matter their contact with the legal system.

During the 153rd General Assembly (2025-2026), House Bill 180, a bill to restore voting rights for returning citizens who have finished serving felony sentences, passed both chambers. It must pass both chambers again next year by the 154th General Assembly (2026-2027) to amend the Delaware State Constitution and go into effect.

Registration deadlines tend to be one of the nation’s largest sources of disenfranchisement because many people like college students, renters, and low-income people do not always have the time, knowledge, or resources to finalize their registration weeks before the election. 2/3 of states either have same-day registration or a more voter-friendly registration deadline than Delaware’s 24-day deadline. Many elections in the state suffer from low voter turnout, but that could be improved—merely passing same-day registration would allow over 22,000 new voters to cast their ballots.

Several towns in Delaware have allowed artificial entities, such as corporations, LLCs, and trusts to vote in local elections. The practice gained national attention when the town of Seaford attempted to amend its charter to allow corporate voting, but public outrage led to the Delaware General Assembly rejecting the attempt. In the wake of Seaford’s attempt, advocates identified other towns that had amended their charters long ago to allow corporations to vote.

In 2026, the ACLU-DE filed a lawsuit challenging the practice in Fenwick Island. The lawsuit is now pending before the Delaware Supreme Court, where advocates are asking the Court to declare the practice unconstitutional.

As a response to the ACLU-DE’s lawsuit, legislators pushed a constitutional amendment, House Bill 430, which would explicitly ban corporations from voting in Delaware. The first leg of the amendment passed in 2026, meaning if the second leg passes in 2027-2028, corporate voting will be banned in the state.