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.
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.”
Brady said that as a lawyer, she believes in the rule of law. “The law is very clear to me, not ambiguous at all. You cannot vote by mail; you cannot register to vote on the same day as the election. The court agreed with me.”
Brady encourages people to go out to vote on Nov. 8.
‘Level the Playing Field’
Lee Murphy, the Republican candidate for Delaware’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said that he is happy with the court’s decision.“The big news today in Delaware is that the Supreme Court ruled that there are no mail-in ballots, and no election-day registration, which will really level the playing field for all the candidates in the state,” Murphy said.
“The court understands the Constitution, the Delaware Constitution, and everyone here tonight, and especially myself as a candidate for Congress. We’re very happy about what we feel was the absolute right decision.”
Murphy shared his own election story related to mail-in-voting. He ran for Congress in 2020 but lost to incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester.
“It’s very important because in 2020, as you know, we had mail-in ballots. I ran in 2020. I won the machine ballots on election day, I’m proud to say,“ he said. ”However, we lost the mail-in ballots in 2020.”
Murphy said he is happy that people will once again be able to go to the polls, cast their vote, or cast an absentee ballot.
Other attendees were excited about the news. Ruth Briggs King, the state representative from the 37th District, said: “We’re celebrating in Delaware tonight the finding of our Supreme Court of some unconstitutional laws that they tried to pass this year.”
