Delaware

Snapshot: Delaware has a middling score for ease of voting and top scores for ballot security and official response to claims about the 2020 election.

Ease of Voting

Some measures to expand access
5 out of 7 benchmarks

Ballot Security

Many measures to ensure accuracy and security
8 out of 8 benchmarks

What Politicians Say

Few responses that undermined the 2020 election
4 out of 4 benchmarks

Delaware voters have the option to cast a ballot early for the first time in 2022.

Under a law passed in 2019, the state is offering 10 days of early voting in all elections held starting this year, including on Saturdays and Sundays.

Delaware was one of the last states to adopt early in-person voting. Currently, only five states do not have an early in-person option available to all voters.

Republicans continue to fight the change, however.

In February, state GOP chair Jane Brady filed a lawsuit on behalf of an elections worker seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional.

Another law passed in 2022 allows no-excuse vote-by-mail as well.


Ease of Voting

Is the state making it easy for eligible voters to register and cast a ballot?
Met 0 out of 0 benchmarks
How Delaware compares to other states
Delaware
Other states
← Easier to vote
Harder →
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Number of total benchmarks met

In 2021, lawmakers created an automatic voter registration system at the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles which could be expanded to other state agencies.

Previously, people applying for driver’s licenses and other DMV-related business were asked if they wanted to register to vote.

Under the new system, DMV customers who are at least 18 and US citizens will be automatically signed up. They’ll later receive a postcard asking if they want to opt out.

A 2022 law also allows voters to register on Election Day.


Ballot Security

Is the state following best practices to ensure ballot counting is accurate and timely?
Met 0 out of 0 benchmarks
How Delaware compares to other states
Delaware
Other states
← More secure
Less secure →
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Number of total benchmarks met

Lawmakers mandated that state elections officials and the DMV conduct regular audits and random checks of the new automatic voter registration system and prepare a report to the legislature.

The law also states that anyone ineligible to vote who is accidentally registered under the new system will be considered not guilty unless they knowingly attempted to register.


How Politicians Responded to the 2020 Election

What did the state do in the aftermath of Trump's defeat?
Met 0 out of 0 benchmarks
How Delaware compares to other states
Delaware
Other states
← Fewer efforts to undermine 2020 election
More →
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Number of total benchmarks met

All of Delaware’s top officials and members of Congress are Democrats, and believe that the election of Biden, who represented the state in the US Senate for decades, was fairly won.


Read the full methodology
Story by: Ryan Teague Beckwith and Bill Allison
Graphics by: Paul Murray, Allison McCartney and Mira Rojanasakul
With assistance by: Rachael Dottle, Marie Patino, Jenny Zhang, Gregory Korte, Romy Varghese, Vincent Del Giudice, Nathan Crooks, Margaret Newkirk, Shruti Date Singh, David Welch, Elise Young, Dina Bass, Brendan Walsh, Carey Goldberg and Maria Wood
Editors: Wendy Benjaminson, Wes Kosova, Alex Tribou and Yue Qiu
Photo editors: Eugene Reznik, Marisa Gertz and Maria Wood
Photo credits: Getty Images, Bloomberg and AP Photo