DEWEY BEACH, Del.—“There will be no vote-by-mail on November 8! There will be no same-day voter registration!” said M. Jane Brady, the chair of the Delaware Republican Party on Friday. Brady was overjoyed on sharing the news about a ruling by the Delaware Supreme Court with some 100 people who had gathered at the Rusty Rudder restaurant for a Freedom Festival Banquet.
Earlier that day, the court had stated in its ruling that both Delaware’s vote-by-mail and same-day registration statutes violate the state’s Constitution.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Delaware Governor John Carney, Democratic Party, declared a public health emergency, and the General Assembly passed laws to allow people to vote by mail.
“We are working hard to protect the integrity of our elections in Delaware,” said Brady. “The way they’ve been for a very long time, that’s trying to be undermined and undone, and I won’t let it happen on my watch.”
Brady is a former Delaware attorney general and a former Delaware Superior Court judge.
“The Supreme Court ruled that vote-by-mail statutes that were passed in June and signed by the governor in July are unconstitutional under Delaware’s Constitution,” Brady told an Epoch Times reporter during the banquet.
Brady said that Delaware had not permitted universal vote-by-mail before June, but allows absentee ballots. If someone is unable to go to one’s designated polling station due to military service, illness, injury, or travel, the person can request an absentee ballot.
“But they can’t just for no reason not show up to vote and ask for a ballot to be sent to them,” said Brady.
Brady expressed admiration for Delaware’s top court.
“I’m very happy we have a great court. Our courts are like the federal courts. If you’re once appointed, you cannot be involved in partisan political activity. We don’t elect our judges,” she said. “They’re much more true to the law than in some states where they have to answer politically for their job.”
By Lily Sun and William Huang