At 11:00am today, the House Administration Committee will consider HB75, which would amend the Delaware Constitution to remove limitations as to when an individual may vote by absentee ballot.

During the hearing, Common Cause Delaware Director Claire Snyder-Hall will testify in support of the Act. A livestream of the hearing is available by registering here. Snyder-Hall’s prepared testimony is below. Because of the COVID pandemic, more than 148,000 Delawareans used an absentee ballot to vote in November’s elections.

Testimony of Claire Snyder-Hall, Director of Common Cause Delaware

For more than 50 years, Common Cause has been a nonpartisan, grassroots organization seeking to protect and strengthen our democracy at all levels. We now have more than 1.5 million members nationwide.

Common Cause Delaware strongly supports no-excuse absentee voting. We support HB75 because it would eliminate one of the barriers to voting. Throughout our country’s history, barriers to voting have generally impacted Black, brown, and less-advantaged voters disproportionately. HB75 will enable all Delawarean voters to exercise our right to have our voices heard and our ballots counted.

In our democratic system of government, the voters should call the shots, and we do so by exercising our right to vote. This constitutional change will provide voters with more options to exercise our duty to vote.

With no-excuse absentee voting, voters of all races will be able to choose who will represent us. So, on behalf of the members of Common Cause Delaware, I ask you to vote yes on HB75.