MARCH 2022
Greetings Fellow Republicans:
Since the 2020 Election, many Delaware voters have asked what the Republican Party is doing to ascertain whether any irregularities took place here, and, more importantly, what the Party is doing to make sure that no irregularities take place in future elections. Two weeks ago, Republican Party Chair Jane Brady addressed these very questions during one of her information-packed Call-to-Action zoom calls. I wanted to take this opportunity to share the information she imparted, especially for those who may have missed this important session.
Chair Brady has been working on election integrity issues since 2019. While she and her team have found no definitive proof of some of the more egregious activities that have been making headlines in other states, she did uncover several gaps and issues surrounding voting integrity that should be addressed here in Delaware. What follows is a summary both of what has been done and what is ongoing to address these and to mitigate concerns about upcoming elections. The action items she discussed can be broken out into five categories, and for many of these initiatives we need your involvement to help get them to the finish line.
1. Legislative efforts
Voter ID—in-person voting. Delaware does not have a voter ID law. Even though voters are asked for their ID at polling stations, it is in fact not required by law, though we think it should be. Republicans have therefore proposed a bill, HB 187 to address this. The bill would require voters to fill out a provisional ballot if ID is not shown.
Action: Thank Republican legislators for proposing this law.
Note: You can find all the relevant contact information for legislators here.
Voter ID—absentee ballots. Republican legislators have also introduced a bill to require ID for absentee ballots, HB 189. This bill is currently stuck in the House Administration Committee.
Action: Write to members of this committee to have it released for a vote.
Fraudulent voting. After investigation, some fraudulent votes have indeed been found in Delaware. That said, Chair Brady can’t corroborate specific Patriots for Delaware claims of nursing home fraud or dead people voting, as these data have not been shared. Regardless, Republican legislators have proposed a bill that would make it a felony to vote when you’re not entitled to do so in an election: HB 188. This bill is currently stuck in the House Administration Committee.
Action: Write to members of this committee to have it released for a vote.
2. Voter roll cleanup efforts
In random samplings of voter roll data, Chair Brady found several anomalies. She believes that up to 12-15% of the DE voter rolls are inaccurate. Inaccurate voter rolls violate the strict requirements set forth in the Federal Voting Rights Act and in the Constitution. To fix this, Republicans proposed Senate Concurrent Resolution 47, which advocated for the creation of a Registered Voter List Improvement Task group, which would have looked at ways to clean people from our lists. Unfortunately, this was defeated.
Action: Chair Brady is currently stepping up her efforts to work directly with the Department of Elections remedy the issue.
3. Redistricting issues.
The law says that when redistricting occurs there is a threshold of + or – 5% of the population in a District. Because the Democrats are in the majority, they get to set the new districts for both the House and the Senate. The result is that district populations are roughly 5% higher for Republicans and 5% lower for Democrats. This means that Republican legislators represent larger groups of voters than do Democrat legislators, which is not ideal. In an effort to even the scales, Republicans introduced bill HB 236, which proposes a fresh approach to reapportionment. This approach is described in a paper by three Carnegie Mellon University professors entitled: “A Partisan Districting Protocol with Provably Nonpartisan Outcomes.” This bill is waiting for a committee hearing.
4. Court remedies
Jane Brady, in her capacity as a citizen and lawyer (not in her capacity as DE GOP Chair) has filed a lawsuit challenging early voting and permanent absentee ballot laws in Delaware. Her springboard is the DE Constitution and Title 15, which dictates clear rules for early voting and absentee ballots, which current laws, she argues, are clearly violating.
5. Grass roots efforts—increasing volunteer poll workers/challengers.
For 2022, the DE GOP must take an all hands-on-deck approach to the voting process. We need all concerned citizens to volunteer as poll checker/challengers to serve as the eyes and ears of the party on the ground. We will be providing training to volunteers later in the year so that, on the day of the election, they will be ready to communicate issues in real time across all DE polling locations. The Party will also have a team of attorneys trained and able to give guidance to these volunteers and party members on voting issues at the polls.
Action: Volunteer to be a Checker/Challenger to observe the processes at polling places and report any irregularities. Contact: SussexGOP@protonmail.com to volunteer.
Marilyn Booker
President