The Delaware General Assembly adjourned on June 30 after enacting eight election-related bills and advancing five constitutional amendments. Gov. Matt Meyer (D) signed all eight bills in June, July, and August.
Among those bills was HB 444, which established a state-level voting rights act. Delaware is one of three states, along with Maryland and New Jersey, that enacted new state-level voting rights acts in 2026.
The bill prohibits political subdivisions from engaging in voter suppression or vote dilution and allows aggrieved individuals or organizations, as well as the state attorney general, to file a court action to cure violations. It also requires local election officials to provide language assistance if a set number of individuals in the jurisdiction speak a particular non-English language.
The state House passed HB 444 29-11 on June 18, with 26 Democrats and three Republicans voting in favor and 11 Republicans voting against. The state Senate passed the bill 21-0 on June 30, with 15 Democrats and six Republicans voting in favor. Meyer signed the bill on Aug. 6.
Other bills enacted in 2026 included:
- HB 301, which prohibits violence or violent threats at or near an election day or early voting polling place, a department of elections office, a meeting of the board of canvass, or any other place where votes are cast, stored, read, or counted.
- HB 344, which requires candidates to keep records related to campaign finance contributions or expenditures for five years following the most recent election in which they were a candidate.
- HB 448, which establishes that security expenses associated with a candidate or officeholder’s activities are an authorized campaign expense.
- SB 322, which makes changes to referenda called by school districts on raising the operational rate tax.
- SB 335, which prohibits state agencies from publishing or funding the publication of voter guides.
Among the five constitutional amendments passed this session was SB 3, which amends the constitution to allow qualified, registered voters to vote by absentee ballot without an excuse. It also establishes that voters who request an absentee ballot once in an election cycle are not required to submit any additional absentee ballot requests for elections occurring in the same election cycle.
Delaware is currently one of 13 states that require absentee/mail-in voters to provide an excuse when requesting a ballot. It is the only Democratic trifecta state to require an excuse.
The Delaware House of Representatives passed SB 3 33-7 on March 26, with 26 Democrats and seven Republicans voting in favor and seven Republicans voting against. The Delaware Senate approved the bill 14-5 on April 14, with 14 Democrats voting in favor and five Republicans voting against.
The other constitutional amendments approved were:
- HB 180, which allows people with felony convictions to regain the right to vote after their prison sentence is over. Currently, individuals convicted of certain felonies, such as murder or bribery, are permanently disqualified from voting unless they receive a pardon.
- HB 430, which authorizes only natural persons to vote in elections in the state and deems that corporations and other artificial entities are not natural persons for voting purposes.
- SB 2, which requires early, in-person voting to occur 10 calendar days before certain election dates, including the Saturday and Sunday immediately before the election.
- SB 264, which requires the governor to issue a writ of election within 10 days of a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor. A special election would not be called if the vacancy occurs in a year in which the lieutenant governor is to be elected, or the vacancy occurs between July 1 and the date the lieutenant governor’s term begins.
All five constitutional amendments will only take effect if approved again in the next session. Delaware is the only state where the legislature can amend the constitution without voter approval.
Delaware enacted two election-related bills in 2025, three in 2024, and eight in 2023.