Today, the House passed three bills that would provide more transparency and efficiency to the election process in Delaware.
House Bill 148, sponsored by Rep. Paul Baumbach and Sen. Kyle Evans Gay, would bring efficiency to the state’s election process by:
- Requiring ballots and other materials essential to administering each election be provided to each polling location on Election Day.
- Allowing for the use of electronic ballot scanning and tabulation to replace written tally sheets.
- Clarifying the process for creating a duplicate ballot that can be read electronically if an original ballot is unreadable.
- Directing ballot opening and processing time to begin 30 days prior to an election, rather than the Friday before an election.
- Safeguarding against election fraud by requiring the election judge team to be comprised so that no more than half of the team are registered with any one party to prevent a dominating majority, while allowing for voters registered independent or smaller parties to participate as election judges.
“Efficacy is key to our election process here in Delaware,” said Rep. Baumbach, D-Newark. “This bill makes needed updates that will improve elections and safeguard against election fraud.”
Rep. Baumbach added that election ballots may only be opened and processed at public meetings, with challengers present, and that the ballots are to be securely stored at all times. Further, ballot results are not permitted to be extracted or reported before the polls have closed on Election Day.
Senate Bill 57, also sponsored by Rep. Baumbach and Sen. Gaywould ensure that popular votes cast in presidential elections would be honored when the Electoral College meets to decide presidential election outcomes.
“We often hear the phrase ‘every vote matters,’ and yet the results in a presidential election don’t always align with the popular vote, leaving many to lose faith in the election process,” Rep. Baumbach said. “SB 57 will bring more confidence to presidential elections because our Electoral College results will be reflective of each and every vote cast by Delaware residents.”
Sponsored by House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf and Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokloa, House Bill 153 would formalize reporting of campaign expenditures for donations to religious, charitable, education or scientific organizations. Political campaigns already can utilize campaign funds for donations to various organizations – such as buying tickets for a fundraiser or gala – but they must enter those expenditures manually, which can lead to discrepancies in how they’re reported. HB 153 would increase transparency by establishing the expenditures as a formal category on the campaign finance reporting system.
“It’s not uncommon for political campaigns to make these types of contributions to different charities, whether in the form of tickets or a donation, but there’s no simple, uniform way to report those expenditures,” said Rep. Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach. “This bill will streamline the reporting so it’s crystal clear where the funds are going, making reports more consistent.”
SB 57 now heads to Governor Carney for his signature. HB 148 and HB 153 head to the Senate for consideration.