This database consolidates and tracks litigation concerning the effect of the pandemic on election law. The purpose of this tool is to provide an interactive list of relevant cases that can be searched by issue, court, status, and jurisdiction.
Case Details
League of Women Voters of Delaware v. Delaware Department of Elections (2)
Closed
League of Women Voters of Delaware v. Delaware Dep't of Elections, No. 2020-0761 (Del. Chancery Ct.) |
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| Case Summary | This action seeks a declaratory judgment that, under pandemic circumstances, Delaware's Election Day return deadline for mail ballots violates the Elections Clause and Right to Vote Clause of the Delaware Constitution, and an injunction requiring election officials to count votes that are mailed on or before Election Day and received by Nov 6th, and ballots which are postmarked or otherwise marked by USPS by Election Day and received by Nov 13. General Assembly of DE passed a bill allowing all voters to vote by mail for the September Primary and General Election. However, with record turnout expected in the General Election and widespread delays in the USPS anticipated, Plaintiffs allege that the current policy, which requires all mailed ballots to be received by the Delaware Department of Elections by 8pm on November 3rd, burdens the right to vote in two scenarios: (1) voters who mail their ballots ahead of the statutory deadline may not reach the Delaware Department of Elections in time (2) voters who request ballots by the statutory deadline may not receive a mail-in ballot in time for them to mail their ballot successfully. | |
| Filed | 09/04/2020 | |
| State | Delaware | |
| Type of Court | State | |
| Status | Closed () | |
| Last Updated | 10/22/2020 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | Vote-by-Mail (Mail Voting Deadlines (for Applying, Receiving, Postmark)) | |
| Complaint(s) | 09/04/2020: Complaint filed. | |
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 10/09/2020: Other, The court found that the vote-by-mail statute, in light of its Election-Day ballot deadline, is not unconstitutional on its face. Applying Anderson-Burdick, the statutory deadlines in ยงยง 5508 and 5608 are also constitutional as-applied to the 2020 general election. | |
