Republicans block bill to allow no-excuse absentee voting in Delaware. What's next?

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that 12 Republicans voted for no-excuse absentee voting in 2019.

Despite many of them previously supporting the idea, Republicans have blocked a bill to allow no-excuse absentee voting in Delaware elections.

They voted against House Bill 75, which would let voters cast absentee ballots without having to give an excuse for why they can't do it in person, during a Thursday vote in the Democratic-controlled House.

It's the second time that lawmakers have voted on the measure in the past few years.

In Delaware, constitutional amendments require lawmakers to pass one bill for two consecutive legislative sessions, which span two years. Twelve of 15 Republicans voted for the bill in 2019, whereas none of them voted for it on Thursday.

Constitutional amendments also require a two-thirds vote, which Democrats don't have on their own in the 41-person House. They needed 28 votes, meaning two Republicans would have had to join all 26 Democrats in support.

"From 2019 until now, nothing has changed about the efficacy, the security of absentee voting in Delaware and nationwide,” bill sponsor Rep. David Bentz, D-Christiana, said just before the vote. "The only thing that has changed, unfortunately, is the rhetoric around it."

Why the vote failed?

The bill's defeat isn't surprising. Since the November election in which President Joe Biden ousted former President Donald Trump, Republicans have warned that they no longer support the idea, citing concerns that the bill could lead to voter fraud.

Republicans also have argued that the wording in the bill lets the majority party create new absentee rules that would benefit its candidates in elections.

The bill strikes out a paragraph of absentee voter rules — people can vote absentee only due to vacation, religion, military duty or a disability, among other exemptions — and replaces it with a single sentence that says the General Assembly shall create laws on how people can vote absentee.

"That change significantly lowers the bar for majority Democrats to manipulate the law, with no Republican votes needed," said House Minority Leader Danny Short, R-Seaford, in a statement after the vote.

"Using that power, I believe they intend to turn no excuse absentee voting into a ‘vote by mail’ system – a scheme that will benefit Democrats."

Democrats dispute that claim.

"Calling vote-by-mail ‘a scheme that will benefit Democrats’ is both baseless and ignores history and reality," said House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear. "Mail-in voting has been used for years without controversy, including extensively in the 2020 elections. It's only since last year this widely accepted practice became a problem for some."

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An issue across the nation

Most states already allow no-excuse absentee voting.

Delaware temporarily allowed no-excuse absentee and mail-in voting during the 2020 elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, many voters were anxious about contracting the virus at crowded polling places.

In that election, Democrats unseated two Republican lawmakers. Republicans did not win any statewide offices or any new Statehouse seats.

Democrats haven't given up yet.

Per House rules, anyone who voted against the bill can make a move to save it from being officially defeated within the next three times the chamber meets. One Democrat — Longhurst, the majority leader — switched her vote from "yes" to "no" in order to later make a move to save it.

That doesn't mean the bill would pass, but it does mean that they could shelve it to make time to get more votes.

Two Republicans — Reps. Michael Smith of Pike Creek and Bryan Shupe of Milford — didn't vote for or against the bill, giving Democrats some hope that they will change their minds in favor next time.

Lawmakers are in session until June 30. After that, they go on a six-month break and return in January.

Democrats are pushing for other changes to voting laws this session, including bills to let voters register to vote on the same day as an election and move the date of primary elections to the same day as the presidential primary.

In May, lawmakers approved a bill to create an automatic voter registration system in which anyone getting a driver's license at the Division of Motor Vehicles would automatically be signed up with proof of citizenship.

Unlike the constitutional amendment, those bills require a simple majority. Democrats enjoy three-fifths control of both chambers.

At the same time, Republicans have tried — so far unsuccessfully — to push their own package of election-related bills they say would combat voter fraud, such as requiring absentee ballot signatures to be verified or increasing voter fraud penalties.

Republicans also tried creating a task force to make sure voter registration lists are accurate following fears from Republicans that some people were still listed on the voter rolls after they had died, but Senate Democrats blocked the proposal earlier this month.

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Sarah Gamard covers government and politics for Delaware Online/The News Journal. Reach her at (302) 324-2281 or sgamard@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahGamard.