DELAWARE -- In a significant legal move, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Delaware has filed a lawsuit against multiple state agencies and Governor John Carney. The Delaware Department of Correction and Delaware Department of Elections were the two agencies named.
The legal action aims to address concerns surrounding the voting rights of incarcerated individuals and comes in response to what the ACLU perceives as a flawed system that excludes eligible voters.
The ACLU contends that the current voting process in Delaware fails to provide a secure and accessible method for incarcerated individuals, specifically those housed in Level Five facilities such as the Vaughn Correctional Center.
According to Andrew Bernstein, a representative of Delaware's ACLU, the issue escalated after the state's Supreme Court invalidated universal mail-in voting, leaving a substantial population of eligible voters disenfranchised.
"We reached out to the Delaware Department of Correction and the Delaware Department of Elections to figure out what they were going to do in light of this new reality in which it was now clear that these voters, while entitled to vote, couldn't do so by absentee ballot," said Bernstein.
Despite efforts by the ACLU to address the situation by proposing in-person voting facilities, no such provisions were implemented. Consequently, the ACLU has taken legal action, seeking a guaranteed method for incarcerated individuals to cast their ballots without fear of prosecution or exclusion.
"The ACLU of Delaware wants it to be that these voters can cast a ballot without fear of prosecution, without fear of challenge, and without fear that they won't be counted," said Bernstein.
The lawsuit underscores the importance of ensuring voting rights for all individuals legally permitted to participate in the electoral process. Governor Carney's office told WBOC they did not have a comment. The Department of Elections has not provided a response as of the time of reporting.
The Department of Correction did provide us with the following statement:
“While we cannot comment on pending litigation currently before the Court, the Delaware Department of Correction remains committed to protecting the right of eligible voters who are in DOC custody to choose to express their constitutional right to participate in the voting process.”
