Wilmington DE.  Deadlines for Christina School District residents to vote by absentee ballot in the May 27th Christina School District Referendum are approaching. Act now if you need to vote by Absentee Ballot.

Residents of the Christina School District who need to vote by Absentee Ballot must submit their Absentee Affidavits by 4 p.m. on Friday, May 22nd in order to have ballots mailed to them. People requesting that the Department mail them absentee ballots may submit their completed Absentee Affidavits by FAX to (302) 577-6545 or by email to absentee@delaware.gov.

Those people who want to vote in person at the Department’s offices in the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N French St in Wilmington can do so on Thursday, May 21st and Friday, May 22nd from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Tuesday, May 26th from 8:30 a.m. to 12 Noon.

Voters who were mailed ballots must return them to the Department by 8 p.m. on May 27th in order for them to be counted.

Contact: Howard Sholl, Department of Elections for New Castle County, (302) 577-3464

Wilmington DE – June 2nd is the last day to change Political Party Affiliation before the September 9th Primary.  The Department’s offices will be open Friday, May 30th and Monday, June 2nd to handle walk-in customers. People can use the State’s online registration system to change their party affiliation, update other registration information and register to vote at http://ivote.de.gov/. The online system is available 24 hours a day.

Contact: Howard Sholl, Department of Elections for New Castle County, (303) 577-5066

Wilmington DE – The Department of Elections for New Castle County issues an assessment of Delaware’s Election System in relation to the key recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration.

The key recommendations cover Voter Registration, Access to the Polls, Polling Place Management and Voting Technology.  Delaware stacks up very well relative to the Commission’s key recommendations.

Delaware has both online voter registration and exchanges registration data with other states through the Electronic Information Registration Center as recommended by the Commission. The current online registration system requires a person to print, sign and mail his/her application. An improved system will be online by the end of April. The ERIC system has given the Departments of Elections more powerful tools to maintain the list of registered voters.

The Commission recommends that States give voters ways to vote before Election Day and use schools as Polling Places. Delaware offers absentee voting. Only 4.99% of the people who voted in the 2012 General Election voted by absentee ballot. Delaware does use schools as Polling Places. Schools are closed on the day of the General Election, but are open for Primaries and school elections. The recommendation regarding using schools as Polling Places also says  that in the interest of security that schools should schedule an in-service day on Election Days.

Delaware has a resource allocator as recommended by the Commission for assigning voting machines and poll workers in the Delaware Code. It works well.

The Voting Technology recommendation concerns national issues that will impact Delaware in the future, but about which the State can do little.

The Department will issue further assessments of all of the recommendations and best practices in the Commission’s Report.

Contact: Howard G. Sholl, Jr., Department of Elections for New Castle County, Phone: (302) 577-3464.

Wilmington, DE – The Department of Elections for New Castle County issues the 2013 Voter Registration Report  as required by Delaware Code, Title 15, ss2052. The 2013 report shows that the Department registered 13,424 new voters, updated addresses for 21,269 registered voters and cancelled the registrations of 19,243 registered voters. The registrations were cancelled because the people were deceased, had moved out of state or had been determined no longer eligible in accordance with procedures in the National Voter Registration Act.

The Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) continues to be the source of most transactions. In 2013 DMV generated 83.9% of the transactions processed by the Department. The Department generated 12.3% of the transactions, the Address Verification program generated 1.4% of the transactions and the State’s Online Registration Tool generated about 1% of the transactions. The remaining transactions came from other sources.

The Department devotes considerable resources in updating the list of registered voters. The report shows that commitment in the number of updated addresses, names and political party affiliations as well as in the number of persons whose registrations have been cancelled.

The State’s involvement in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) has given the Department more tools to identify and remove deceased voters, remove and/or merge duplicate records, contact registered voters who have moved out of state in order to get their permission to cancel their registrations and to update addresses of other registered voters. About 25% of the address updates in 2013 and about 10% of the cancelled registrations in 2013 were identified through ERIC.

The State will roll out a true online voter registration system with additional voter service tools in the near future. The current “tool” requires people to print, sign and return their application. The new system will give an applicant several methods of applying their signature to their application. Those who use one of those methods would be able to submit their completed application online. People who can’t use one of the online signature options or choose not to do so will still have the print, sign and mail option.

Copies of previous reports are also available.

Contact: Howard G. Sholl, Jr.,  Department of Elections for New Castle County, Phone: 302.577.3464

Wilmington DE – Delaware does not hold Primary and General Elections in odd numbered years. Thus, Delaware will not hold a General Election on November 5, 2013.

Delaware will hold a Primary Election on September 9, 2014 and a General Election on November 4, 2014.

Contact:

Howard Sholl

(302) 577-5066