dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

Delaware’s Plan To Allow Widespread Unsupervised V****g Violates Its Constitution, Lawsuit Says
BY: MARGOT CLEVELAND
AUGUST 03, 2022
6 MIN READ

A Pennsylvania case outcome shows how far activist justices will go to reach a desired result, even in conflict with the constitution.


Delaware’s Legislature used its emergency powers and the excuse of the p******c to authorize no-excuse mail-in v****g for 2020, but now, without bothering to lean on C***d as a crutch, the Democrat-controlled state legislature has passed a law providing for an unlimited right to v**e by mail as well as authorizing same-day v***r r**********n. A new lawsuit filed last week, however, seeks to have both laws declared unconstitutional under the Delaware constitution before this year’s midterm e******ns.

Before the 2020 e******n, the Delaware General Assembly approved no-excuse mail-in v****g, even though Article V, Section 4A of the state constitution expressly provides for absentee v****g only where a qualified e*****r is “unable to appear to cast his or her b****t” “at the regular polling place of the e******n district,” under limited, enumerated circumstances. Specifically, absentee v****g is authorized under the state constitution if an e*****r cannot v**e at his polling place “either because of being in the public service of the United States or of this State, or his or her spouse or dependents when residing with or accompanying him or her, because of the nature of his or her business or occupation, because of his or her sickness or physical disability, because of his or her absence from the district while on vacation, or because of the tenets or teachings of his or her religion.”

The Republican State Committee of Delaware and two registered Delaware v**ers challenged the no-excuse absentee v****g provision before the 2020 general e******n. While the Delaware Department of E******ns agreed that the list of citizens entitled to v**e by absentee b****t, set forth in Article V, Section 4A, was meant to be exhaustive, the state argued that the legislature properly invoked its emergency powers under Article XVII, Section 1. That section provides that “in order to ensure the continuity of State and local governmental operations in periods of emergency resulting from … disease,” the state legislature shall have the power “to adopt such other measures as may be necessary and proper for ensuring the continuity of governmental operations.”

A Delaware state court found that the legislature had the authority under Article XVII, Section 1 to authorize no-excuse mail-in-v****g, in light of the “epidemic of airborne disease” and the “health emergency declared by the Governor.” But as the court stressed, the statute at issue applied “only to the 2020 primary, general, and any special e******ns,” and by its terms expired on January 12, 2021.

Now with the 2022 midterms mere months away, however, the legislature late last month passed a new statute, signed by Delaware’s Democrat Gov. John Carney, that authorizes no-excuse absentee v****g. Specifically, Section 5603A provides that to v**e by mail, a Delaware e*****r must submit a completed, signed, and dated application that includes either the v**er’s last four digits of his social security number or the number of the v**er’s state-issued driver’s license or non-driver identification card number. Upon determining that the applicant is qualified to v**e under the state’s e******n code, the newly passed statute requires the Department of E******ns to provide the v**er with a mail b****t for the e******n district in which he resides, along with instructions for completing and returning the b****t, and a b****t envelope.

Unlike the 2020 statute that relied on the legislature’s emergency power under the Delaware constitution, the General Assembly did not rely on C***d or its emergency constitutional authority to ensure “the continuity of State and local governmental operations” to pass Section 5603A. And there is no end date to the mail-in v****g law. Rather, the statute converts Delaware to a no-excuse mail-in-v****g state, notwithstanding the constitutional limits to absentee v****g.

The Delaware Legislature, in addition to authorizing no-excuse mail-in v****g, passed a statute eliminating the requirement that v**ers r******r to v**e by “the fourth Saturday prior to the date of the e******n” and authorized same-day v***r r**********n. The General Assembly also removed the statutory provision requiring registered v**ers to update address or name changes the “day prior to a primary or general” e******n, permitting such changes on e******n day.

Again, the state constitution addresses the time period for v***r r**********n, with Article V, Section 4 providing that “the General Assembly shall enact uniform laws for the registration of v**ers in this State entitled to v**e under this article.” Significantly, the Delaware constitution mandates that there “be at least two registration days in a period commencing not more than one hundred and twenty days, nor less than sixty days before, and ending not more twenty days, nor less than ten days before, each General E******n.” That section also provides that registrations “may be corrected at any time prior to the day of holding the e******n.” Further, the Delaware Supreme Court previously made clear that Section 4 of Article V “provides that all questions of the qualifications of v**ers should be determined before e******n day.”

In response to these state statutes, the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed suit on behalf of two Delaware residents, including a candidate for state representative, against the Delaware Department of E******ns, arguing the no-excuse absentee v****g and same-day registration violates the Delaware constitution.

“These mail b****ting and same day registration laws conflict with the Delaware Constitution,” PILF President J. Christian Adams said. “States cannot pass laws that conflict with their constitutions. It’s egregious that Inspectors of E******ns are forced to choose between obeying the same day registration law or following the state constitution. Delaware lawmakers should read their own constitution before passing e******n laws.”

While the legislature’s adoption of no-excuse mail-in v****g and same-day registration seems to represent a clear violation of the plain language of the Delaware constitution, the state Supreme Court will be the ultimate arbiter of the question. And currently, all five Delaware Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democrat governors.

Of course, politics does not necessarily dictate the outcome of cases, and given the clarity of the Delaware constitution, the state Supreme Court justices may nonetheless hold that their fellow Democrats in the legislative branch overstepped their authority. But at least in Pennsylvania, where the constitution was similarly clear, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday in a 5-2 decision upheld the legislature’s approval of no-excuse v****g, with the five-justice majority consisting of Democrat justices and the sole two Republicans in dissent.

The outcome of the Pennsylvania case shows how far activist justices were willing to go to reach a desired result, even when it conflicted with the plain language of their state constitution. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision also reveals the lack of concern the Democrat justices place on e******n integrity because at the time the constitutional provisions were adopted by the people in Pennsylvania, citizens recognized that absentee v****g would “break down all the safeguards of honest suffrage.”

If Pennsylvania and public sentiments prove prescient, the Delaware Democrat justices will care no more about e******n integrity than their fellow Democrats.

LogicallyRight Loc: Chicago

And there was no fraud in 2020. And my dick is bigger then Ron Jeremy.

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

Probably is bigger since they shrink when one gets older. How old is he now?

Smedley_buzkill

It's Delaware. If there were no one but Republicans running the Democraps would still win.