The Delaware John Lewis Voting Rights Act (House Bill 444) cleared the General Assembly on the last night of the session and is awaiting enactment at an expected signing ceremony with the governor.
The bill — intended to prevent voter suppression, vote dilution, and other discriminatory election practices — was fast-tracked through the legislature, taking less than a month from its introduction to its final passage.
Concerns were raised about the rushed measure, including how it defines voter suppression and the elimination of intent as a factor in determining whether voter suppression has occurred.
Still, while this significant voting bill was anointed for rapid approval, other voting reforms were left to languish and die on the vine.
Expanding Primary Voting
At present, Delaware holds “closed primaries,” in which only voters registered with a party can cast ballots in that party’s races. Eight states have this system, including neighboring Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
House Bill 188, sponsored by State Rep. Mike Smith (R-Pike Creek Valley), would have allowed unaffiliated voters to participate in Delaware primary elections. Registered Republicans and Democrats would still be limited to voting only in their own parties’ primaries. Eight states take this approach, sometimes referred to as semi-closed primaries, including New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
In Delaware, there are approximately 800,000 registered voters, with about 170,000 of these citizens unaffiliated. If current trends continue, unaffiliated voters are expected to soon become Delaware’s largest voting bloc.
“This bill is about fairness and inclusion,” Rep. Smith said. “All of the positive feedback I’ve received from people in the community tells me this is something Delawareans want. I intended to reintroduce it in the next session.”
HB 188 passed the House on a tight vote, but died without being considered in the Senate.
Expanding the Scope of Mandatory Recounts
Sponsored by State Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford South, Ellendale), House Bill 86 sought to expand the scope of mandatory election recounts to any election where the margin of victory was 1% or less.
Current law calls for a recount only if the number of votes separating two candidates is less than one-half of 1%.
The bill passed the House 37-3 at the end of last June, then spent a year in the Senate Elections & Government Affairs Committee without a hearing until it died at the end of the session.
“I don’t know why anyone would oppose or block this bill from becoming law,” Rep. Shupe said. “It increases clarity in the outcomes of close elections and carries no additional cost to taxpayers.”
Improving the Timing of the State Primary
Delaware has one of the latest state primary elections in the nation, taking place “the second Tuesday after the first Monday in September.” This year, that means there are only 49 days between the September 15 primary and the November 3 general election.
Only three other states have primary elections on or after September 1.
Delaware’s primary election timing creates significant issues for both the voting public and the candidates running in these races, matters that are further complicated by Delaware’s closed primary system. The short time between the primary and general elections gives voters a small window to become familiar with the victorious candidates. Those candidates are additionally handicapped by a restricted ability to replenish funds, limited time to smooth over hard feelings with the supporters of their defeated opponents, and the need to refocus their efforts on encompassing all voters instead of just those sharing their political party affiliation.
Sponsored by State Rep. Stephanie T. Bolden (D-Wilmington East) and co-sponsored by State Rep. Lyndon Yearick (R-Camden, Woodside), House Bill 65 would have moved the date of primary elections from late summer to mid-spring—the fourth Tuesday in April. In presidential election years, this date would have coincided with the presidential primary, saving taxpayers money by combining the elections.
The bipartisan measure passed the House on April 8, 2025, 39-1. It then spent the next 16 months in Senate limbo without ever being considered by the chamber.
Reviewing Motor-Voter Registrations
Three years ago, Delaware’s enhanced motor-voter law went into effect.
Under the statute, every voting-age person who completes an application for the issuance or renewal of their Delaware driver’s license, learner’s permit, or identification card with the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and is not already registered to vote, is automatically registered by the Department of Elections (DOE).
Under the process, the DMV is supposed to confirm citizenship status before forwarding registration information. State Rep. Bryan Shupe (Milford South, Ellendale) learned earlier this year that the system may not be working as intended. “A green card holder in my district contacted me after she was automatically registered to vote [after visiting the DMV],” he said.
A green card, officially known as a Permanent Resident Card, grants authorization to live and work permanently in the U.S. However, green card recipients are not citizens and are not entitled to vote in state or federal elections.
House Substitute 2 for House Bill 317, sponsored by Rep. Shupe, would have required the Division of Motor Vehicles to conduct an audit of voter registrations that used a driver’s license predating the implementation of REAL ID, and who obtained a driver’s license or identification card after Automatic Voter Registration took effect in June 2023.
“I introduced the first version of this bill around St. Patrick’s Day, and refined and revised it twice to address concerns,” Rep. Shupe said. “Was the issue that my constituent brought to my attention a one-time occurrence, or did it indicate something more systemic?”
That question will not get answered anytime soon. Despite state revenue forecasts unexpectedly increasing by more than $152 million in mid-June, the Democratic majority controlling the House Appropriations Committee refused to release the bill for consideration. It carried an annual cost of $100,000.
