This week, the Delaware General Assembly approved broad legislation that will fundamentally change the way elections in the First State are administered, if not conducted. Under House Bill 302 the state’s election law will be amended to consolidate the three county—Kent, New Castle and Sussex—elections boards into one 11-member state board of elections. Unlike most, if not all other states, currently elections staff in each of Delaware’s three counties are state employees although they report to local elections boards and not the state.
Once the new law — it is expected that Gov. Jack Markell (D) will sign it — is in place, the county elections staff will remain state employees only they will report to the newly created state elections board.
The new board would be composed of 11 members with two members from each county, two members from the City of Wilmington and two at-large members. The members will be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
Existing county boards of elections will remain, but they “would be subject to the policies and directives of the state board of elections.”
Full Article: electionlineWeekly.