‘Discouraging’: Hundreds of Delaware voters told they’re ineligible to vote after clerical error

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Voting rights advocates and good government groups are demanding action after some Democratic voters were told they were ineligible to vote because of incorrect party identification on their voter registrations.

The Department of Elections estimates at least 750 voters who were registered automatically through the Department of Motor Vehicles have an incorrect party identification due to a “clerical error.” On Saturday, it updated the number to 764 affected voters,  328 in New Castle County and 87 in the city of Wilmington. A spokesperson said the department completed fixing the incorrect registrations.

Long-time Wilmington resident Darron Swann said he was excited to vote for the first time last week before being told he had no party affiliation and was ineligible to vote in the primary. He said he registered as a Democrat in March 2023.

“I feel like I should not have had to experience that,” he said. “It was a terrible civic experience.”

Swann also said he was not given the correct ballot because it did not list the Wilmington mayoral race. After a few hours and several phone calls, the DMV “glitch” was identified as the issue, and he was allowed to vote with the correct ballot.

“I’m new to the process. It was discouraging for me,” he said. “I’m fairly resilient, but there were so many seniors and it was just bad to have that type of ignorance at the polls.”

Andrew Berstein, Cozen Voting Rights Fellow with ACLU Delaware, said they started receiving complaints from voters who found out they were ineligible last week when early voting began.

The Delaware Coalition for Open Government (DELCOG) sent a letter to the New Castle County Department of Elections that said it was aware of two young women who registered as Democrats in April and were initially not allowed to vote during early voting. Once the voters visited the elections office with proof they were registered Democrats, the letter said their party affiliation was updated so they could vote.

It’s unclear whether voters upstate have been more affected, but Wilmington activists and some candidates for office have unleashed a wave of criticism directed at the Department of Elections. Wilmington Mayoral Candidate Velda Jones-Potter and her supporters say the problem appears to be more widespread in Wilmington than in other areas.

“The situations with which I am familiar, many of them personally, because I have been present and members of my team have been present,” Jones-Potter said. “The Department of Elections has not been forthcoming and transparent with the complete information as to the magnitude, the scope, the geographic impact of this issue.”

DOE spokesperson Cathleen Hartsky-Carter said no voter has been turned away due to this issue, and any voter impacted has been provided the opportunity to vote. She did not address Jones-Potter’s assertion that the agency lacks transparency on the issue. An update on Saturday said the problems were limited to the polling place at the Police Athletic League in Wilmington.

At least one voter appears to have been unable to cast a ballot due to the clerical error. Alicia Clark, founder of Delaware Faith in Action Network, said she was aware of an 83-year-old woman who was turned away and told she would not be allowed to vote in the September primary. Clark’s group organizes events like Souls to the Polls, a get-out-the-vote effort.

“Her daughter shared she took her mother to vote, and they told her there was an issue with her registration — her party — and that she had to fill out a form, which she did, and they told her that they would correct the issue, but she’ll be able to vote in November,” Clark said. “This is what she was told. So that, right there, disputes this comment that [the Department of Elections] made that no one has been turned away because that’s not true.”

Gov. John Carney is competing against Jones-Potter to be Wilmington mayor. He said no constituent has directly complained to him about having trouble voting.

Delaware is a closed primary state. Only voters registered with the Democratic or Republican Party may vote in their party’s primary election.

About a year ago, Delaware elections officials launched a voter registration program where the state DMV automatically places new drivers onto the voter rolls if they don’t otherwise proactively register.

How it works can be confusing.

Residents are automatically registered by DOE with no party affiliation. The system sends out a letter so new voters can fill out their preferred political party and return it. Voters who are automatically registered may choose a political party through the first primary election following their automatic DMV enrollment and vote in that election. Voters with no party affiliation can choose their preferred party and vote during early voting or on primary day only during the first primary election after being automatically enrolled. Otherwise, they stay as “no party” and can only change it during specific time periods.

Hartsky-Carter said the elections department is updating the information of the hundreds of voters with erroneous party affiliations and providing staff at early voting sites and polling places with the names of impacted voters to ensure they can cast ballots in the primary election.

Carney said that, as governor, he asked his chief of staff to contact elections to investigate the issue.

“We’re trying to communicate with voters who are on that list, so that they take the opportunity, if they choose, to declare to be a Democrat or Republican and vote in the primary,” he said.

But Bernstein said the ACLU has continued to receive complaints from early voters this week who have been told they’re ineligible to vote.

DELCOG said the Department of Elections and the DMV need, at a minimum, to issue an email alert to allow voters to correct any mistakes in their voter registration status in time for them to participate in next Tuesday’s September 10 primary.

Alicia Clark said it’s been a week since people started experiencing the problem, and there needs to be a solution.

“There’s still not transparency around ‘Here are the protocols, here’s what we’ve identified as the issue, and here’s how we’re going to address it.’ That’s very troubling that the department was not forthcoming and proactively engaging with groups and organizations and the 750 individuals to notify them that this might be an issue.”