By ‘fast’, I mean before June 30.
This ‘tip’ speaks for itself and raises all sorts of questions about a bill that Schwartzkopf is rushing through the General Assembly. The subject may appear to be arcane, but looks like it’s designed to enable a lot of people who are not permanent residents of Rehoboth to vote in elections there. The bill, HB 395 (M. Smith), does not specify Rehoboth. Schwartzkopf is a sponsor. The bill in question was introduced on June 2. Already passed the House, already out of a Senate committee. Interestingly, unlike every other piece of legislation on the LIS system that I’ve seen, there is no PDF link to this bill. Coincidence? You decide. Here is the tip in its entirety:
“There is a crisis brewing in the state legislature and we need your attention immediately on an important voting issue. Please call your legislator and alert every voter that you know in the state of Delaware. Without notifying the city of Rehoboth, Pete Schwartzkopf and others have introduced a bill that affects both resident and non-resident voters. The bill takes away any residency requirement and sets the registration deadline 30 days before the election. More importantly, it allows anyone with a 30 day lease to register to vote. The bill is being rushed through to be passed before the end of the session next week. If it is passed, it could greatly affect the outcome of this year’s election by allowing many more people to register by July 13.
Among the people who could register are:
-Anyone with a lease for a summer rental of 30 days or more
-Any developer currently owning property in the city could lease that property to as many people as he wants.
-Anyone owning property in an LLC could lease to any number of people. No maximum number of lessees has been stated. (The bill takes away the requirement of a 10 year lease.)
-Summer lifeguards with leases of 30 days or more.The bill was brought up on the grounds that the residency requirement over 30 days is unconstitutional. However no one communicated and few seem to understand that the constitutionality only pertains to full-time residents.Nine (of 49) municipalities in the state of Delaware and one small municipality in Colorado are the only communities in the country that allow non-resident voting for municipal elections. Since so few people know that, it is easy to be confused about the true meaning and the unintended consequences (or were they intended??) of this bill.
The two members of the house who voted against this bill represent districts that have nonresident voting. We feel that they understood its implications and the language below in the synopsis and in the bill itself, which is the only text legislators have seen, is misleading.
If the intended purpose of this bill was to actually reduce the residency requirement to 30 days for full time residents, that is not an issue. However, the bill with the HA1 actually impacts both residents and non-resident property owners and more importantly non resident leaseholders.
Why is a City of Wilmington legislator (actually Melanie Smith) prime sponsor on a bill that only impact small Sussex County towns??? Why are there no Sussex County sponsors in the Senate?
Why is the synopsis not actually reflective of what the bill actually does? Why has there been no discussion on the floor? Do legislators actually know and understand what the bill actually does?Rationale for bill:
SYNOPSIS
Pursuant to longstanding United States Supreme Court precedent, it is unconstitutional to require a person to be a resident of the voting state, district, or municipality for any length of time that exceeds the time necessary to effectively register voters prior to an election. See Marston v. Lewis, 410 U.S. 679 (1973); Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330 (1972). In Delaware, 30 days prior to the election is the current deadline for registering to vote in statewide and national elections. 15 Del. C. § 2036. This bill would prohibit any municipality from enacting or maintaining any durational residency or property ownership requirement for voting eligibility, and sets the maximum deadline for registration at 30 days prior to a municipal election. This will bring Delaware’s municipal voting laws in line with federal constitutional standards.Text of changes:
Section 1. Amend Section 7554, Title 15 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
§ 7554. Voter eligibility.
(a) Voter eligibility shall be as specified within the town charter; provided however, that in no event shall a municipality impose a durational residency requirement or a durational property ownership requirement, or require that a leaseholder be a leaseholder for any duration of time prior to being eligible to vote.(c) A municipality that maintains its own voter registration system shall publish and post a schedule of when eligible citizens may register to vote. The deadline for voter registration shall be no more than 30 days prior to any scheduled municipal election, and timeliness shall be determined in accordance with § 2036(1) and (2)of this title. The municipality shall provide eligible citizens a reasonable opportunity to register to vote.
The bill could be called up for a Senate vote at any time. So, what do you think? Maybe he’s just trying to make sure that people from Park Slope who are vacationing at the shore can vote in the primary election? Or, is this bill merely what it says it is? The floor is open.