Synopsis
This Act safeguards elections in this State by strengthening fairness and impartiality in both the conduct of elections and the enforcement of election laws. Election protections are strengthened because this Act updates Title 15 so that the terms and procedures reflect modern vocabulary, technology, and best practices. Most of the revisions in this Act are technical, clarifications, or conform existing law to current practices in regard to determining an individual’s place of residence, requirements for electronic voting system software, performing audits of election results, and adjudicating or curing deficient absentee ballots. Section 1 revises the terms and definitions for Title 15 as follows: • Repeals obsolete terms. • Revises current terms and definitions to accurately reflect the organization of the Department of Elections (Department), the use of electronic voting systems, and conform to drafting standards. • Adds additional defined terms that are already used in Title 15, to provide consistency and clarity in this State’s election laws. Section 1 also codifies how the Department determines residency for purposes of registering to vote and to be a candidate for office in a new § 103 of Title 15. This new section provides that an individual’s place of residence is fixed and is a place that the individual physically inhabits and requires that residence be broadly construed to provide all eligible voters with the opportunity to participate in the democratic process. This section specifically provides for all the following: • An individual’s place of residence when the individual’s sleeping area or place of habitation is not a traditional residence associated with real property. • An individual does not lose their place of residence if the individual intends to return after an absence, such as for education, military service, incarceration, or obtaining or providing medical care. • If an individual maintains possession of the individual’s place of residence, obtaining a secondary residence is not prima facia evidence of a change in residence. • An individual’s residence changes and the individual forms a new residence if the individual inhabits a new location with the intent to remain there indefinitely, registers to vote based on residence at a new location, or votes based on residence at a new location. • How a dispute regarding an individual’s place of residence is determined and appealed. Section 2 updates the requirements for electronic voting systems to incorporate best practices and increase the clarity of these requirements. The increased clarity provides transparency regarding both the Department’s compliance with these requirements and the accuracy of election results. The current requirements were enacted in 2019 (82 Del. Laws, c. 170) to provide a framework to use when the current electronic voting devices were first acquired. These voting devices have now been used in several election cycles so the requirements can be updated to reflect that experience and the ongoing improvements to voting technology. Specifically, these updates: • Transfers Chapter 50A of Title 15 to Chapter 50 of Title 15. • Provide for the designation of the software, which includes the version of that software, that must be installed on voting devices before each statewide general election. • Expands the criteria that must be considered when designating the software that must be used on voting devices, including the experiences of other jurisdictions that have already used the software. The expanded criteria also provides certainty and stability instead of relying on the continued existence of a federal certifying entity. • Requires that no later than July 1 of an odd numbered calendar year, the State Election Commissioner (Commissioner) must designate the software required for the next statewide general election and that this software can be used for elections held during the next 2 years. • Explicitly allows