A bill to update multiple parts of election code in Delaware got bipartisan Senate support during a floor vote Tuesday.
State Sen. Dan Cruce’s SB 266 has nine sections that update state election code. He said American citizens' access to elections is "paramount."
"...Here in Delaware, Democrats and Republicans alike believe that voting rights are of grave importance to our society," he said. "This bill is about election protection and safeguarding our democracy, ensuring that Delaware's elections are held in a way that is clear, fair, and reliable."
One of the most prominent of sections in his bill sets statewide residency standards to vote and run for office, which are currently not specified in Delaware code.
Cruce (D-Wilmington) said it also updates election code to reflect that all of Delaware’s ballots are machine-scanned, and absentee ballots are the only hand-marked paper ballots used in elections.
During the bill’s consideration, Cruce told his fellow senators that he developed the legislation with the State’s Department of Elections. The bill asks that the state election commissioner designate software to conduct elections every other year.
Anthony Albence, Delaware’s election commissioner, said the bill requires that any software Delaware uses already be used by two other US election jurisdictions. How the state evaluates jurisdictions isn't specified in the bill.
"...but we would be looking at jurisdictions of similar size and capacity of the state and our particular types of machines," Albence said. "And (Delaware's) family of machines are used in a lot of jurisdictions in the country."
The state adopted a new electronic voting system and requirements in 2019. Cruce said his legislation is an update based on feedback that’s happened since.
Other sections of the bill get into more technical revisions. Section four provides clarifies standards for counting absentee ballots.
Another of those technical changes repeals a procedure that asks voters to cast provisional ballots when a court orders a polling place to be kept open late on election day.
The bill heads to the House for consideration. If passed and signed into law, the changes would go into effect upon enactment.
