{"id":1641718,"date":"2022-09-15T11:32:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T15:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1641718"},"modified":"2022-09-15T11:32:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T15:32:55","slug":"court-delawares-mail-in-voting-law-violates-its-state-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-delawares-mail-in-voting-law-violates-its-state-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Court: Delaware\u2019s Mail-In Voting Law Violates Its State Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcourt-delawares-mail-in-voting-law-violates-its-state-constitution%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1641718&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A new ruling from a Delaware judge has deemed that the state\u2019s mail-in voting law violates the Constitution of Delaware and cannot be utilized for the upcoming November elections.<\/p>\n<p>Writing for the Delaware Court of Chancery, Vice Chancellor Nathan Cook <a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Higgin-Draft-Full-Opinion-Final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruled<\/a> on Wednesday that \u201cthe Vote-by-Mail Statute\u201d in question violates a provision within Delaware\u2019s constitution that details the specific circumstances under which citizens are permitted to vote by absentee ballot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur Supreme Court and this court have consistently stated that those circumstances are exhaustive,\u201d Cook wrote. \u201cTherefore, as a trial judge, I am compelled by precedent to conclude that the Vote-by-Mail Statute\u2019s attempt to expand absentee voting \u2026 must be rejected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[I]n light of applicable and controlling precedent, I must find that the Vote-by-Mail Statute is unconstitutional for purposes of the general election,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling from Cook came in response to a <a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Final-Complaint-Stamped.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> filed by The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) against Delaware\u2019s election commissioner and Department of Elections earlier this year on behalf of a state resident. In the lawsuit, PILF alleged that the state\u2019s laws regarding the expansion of mail-in voting and same-day voter registration violated the state\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n<p>While Cook agreed with PILF\u2019s legal arguments regarding the state\u2019s mail-in voting law, the Court of Chancery judge upheld the state\u2019s same-day voter registration statute. <\/p>\n<p>Under\u00a0Article V, Section 4A of the <a href=\"https:\/\/delcode.delaware.gov\/constitution\/constitution-06.html#P669_105176\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Delaware Constitution<\/a>, citizens are only permitted to vote absentee for specific reasons, such as those related to \u201csickness or physical disability\u201d and \u201cabsence from the district while on vacation,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2022\/sep\/14\/delaware-vote-by-mail-law-is-unconstitutional-judg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Washington Times<\/a>, state Democrat lawmakers only introduced the vote-by-mail bill earlier this year \u201cafter failing to win Republican support to amend the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote by each chamber in two consecutive General Assemblies,\u201d the Times report reads. \u201cThe first leg of a constitutional amendment to eliminate limitations on absentee balloting cleared the legislature in 2020, after initially being defeated in the Democrat-controlled Senate, but the second leg failed to win the necessary majority in the Democrat-led House last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis ruling upheld the rule of law in Delaware when not long-ago election officials across the country were ignoring the law,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0PILF President J. Christian Adams in a <a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/press\/win-for-following-election-rules-court-rules-mail-voting-in-delaware-violates-state-constitution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cThis law violated the election protections in Delaware\u2019s Constitution. Election officials must follow the law.\u00a0 When laws are followed, even losers of elections can agree with the outcomes. Consent of the governed increases when the election rules are followed.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new ruling from a Delaware judge has deemed that the state\u2019s mail-in voting law violates the Constitution of Delaware and cannot be utilized for the upcoming November elections. Writing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1641718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1641718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1641718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1641718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1641718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}