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SB3 • 2025

AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE V OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO VOTING.

AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE V OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO VOTING.

Elections
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Last action
2025-01-03
Official status
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE V OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO VOTING.

AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE V OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO VOTING.

What This Bill Does

  • AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE V OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO VOTING.
  • This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to eliminate the limitations on when an individual may vote absentee and provide an absolute right to vote by absentee ballot without an excuse.
  • This Act is in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Albence v.
  • Higgins, 2022 Del.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

No action history is stored for this bill yet.

Official Summary Text

AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE V OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO VOTING.
This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to eliminate the limitations on when an individual may vote absentee and provide an absolute right to vote by absentee ballot without an excuse. This Act is in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Albence v. Higgins, 2022 Del. LEXIS 377 (Del. 2022).

Although Section 1 of this Act creates an absolute right to vote by absentee ballot without an excuse, a qualified voter who desires to cast an absentee ballot must request an absentee ballot from the Department of Elections for each election cycle, unless the qualified voter is granted permanent absentee status. This State’s current absentee voting law authorizes permanent absentee status for various reasons (see § 5503(k) of Title 15 of the Delaware Code) and this Act adopts most of those reasons. For each election in which a qualified voter votes by absentee ballot under a permanent absentee status, the qualified voter must take an oath or affirmation that the qualified vo