As Delaware’s Legislative Session Nears End: Voting, Inspector General Bills Still Need to be Passed – Hearings Today at 11:30 am and Noon

With just over two weeks remaining in Delaware’s 2022 legislative session, bills to

• allow voters to cast ballots by mail; 
• enable voters to correct and update their voter registrations, or register for the first time; and
• create a statewide Inspector General’s office

have not yet been passed.

Committee hearings on all three bills will be held today. 

• The Senate Elections & Government Affairs Committee will meet at 11:30am to consider bills including vote by mail and election day registration. A livestream link has not yet been released, but should be available on the meeting webpage later today. 
• The House Administration Committee will meet at noon to consider legislation including the Inspector General bill. Livestream of the meeting will be available here.

“We urge legislators to pass all three of these measures before they go out of session,” said Common Cause Delaware Executive Director Claire Snyder-Hall. “Our ‘government by the people’ is stronger when more people participate – and that means the people’s elected representatives should prioritize legislation that removes barriers to voting. Also, the bill to create an Office of the Inspector General should be a priority so that taxpayers can have confidence in how our money is being spent.” 

“We’ve seen how strong vote-by-mail programs lead to more participation — just look at 2020, where we saw record-breaking turnout thanks to added accessibility protections,” Snyder Hall said. “Passing Vote by Mail would place us alongside the other 34 states that currently allow voters to cast ballots by mail. For a strong, healthy democracy, we need to remove unnecessary barriers to participation, and make sure every voter has the option to vote safely and securely by mail. With the election process starting up again in just a few months, it is vitally important for the General Assembly to act now, so people can vote safely and smoothly in the upcoming elections.” Read Snyder-Hall’s full testimony on this bill here.

“Common Cause Delaware fully supports HS1 for HB25, a same-day registration bill that would make Election Day the last day that Delawareans can register to vote, update their address or correct mistakes on the voter rolls. We believe all eligible voters should have the freedom to vote, unimpeded by early registration deadlines,” Snyder-Hall said. “The most common reason people use election-day registration in the 20 states that have it is to update their address, and in Delaware Census data show that 12% of the population moves every year.” Read her full testimony on this bill here.

“Our state budget is now running about $5 billion a year – and Delawareans deserve to have confidence that all those tax dollars are being well-spent. We need to know that our state’s procurement laws are being followed; and we should be able to trust that our government officials are not misusing public money to enrich themselves, their families or their cronies,” Snyder-Hall said. “That’s why Common Cause Delaware strongly supports the creation of an Inspector General’s office for the First State.” Read Snyder-Hall’s full testimony on this bill here.