This article has been updated to include a response from the Fenwick Island mayor and ACLU Delaware.
FENWICK ISLAND, Del. - A lawsuit has been dismissed by a Delaware Superior Court judge that challenged voting rights for corporations in Fenwick Island municipal elections. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware.
In a memorandum opinion issued on May 26, Delaware Superior Court Judge Craig A. Karsnitz granted the Town of Fenwick Island’s motion to dismiss the case, saying the ACLU failed to show the town’s charter violated the Delaware Constitution’s Elections Clause.
The Fenwick Island Mayor, Natalie Magdeburger, told CoastTV News that many of the property owners that are legal entities are family/marital trusts that were established for estate purposes and hold title to residential properties. The business property owners that are legal entities are typically small businesses that have had a presence in Fenwick Island for years.
"We are a small multigeneraltional town and we believe that a property owner who pays taxes and is subject to our ordinances should have a say in who represents them on our Town Council," said Magdeburger. "We firmly believe our voting system is just and fair and gives everyone a voice."
ACLU Delaware's Civic Engagement Counsel Andrew Bernstein responded saying, "Voting should be for the people—not corporations. We believe strongly that allowing corporations to vote in local elections harms our democracy and dilutes the voices of voters. Over the coming days, we will review the Court’s decision and determine our next steps."
Karsnitz wrote that Delaware law recognizes corporations, trusts and other legal entities as “persons” in many legal contexts and found the plaintiff did not prove the town’s election system violated constitutional protections requiring elections to be “free and equal.”
In the opinion, Karsnitz said Delaware courts historically interpret “free” elections as those without intimidation, fraud, coercion or barriers to voting. He wrote the ACLU did not allege Fenwick voters faced obstacles to voting or unequal treatment at the polls.
The ruling also noted Fenwick Island is not alone in allowing voting rights connected to property-owning entities. The opinion cited similar provisions in the charters of other beach towns like Henlopen Acres, Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach.
Karsnitz addressed the ACLU’s “one person, one vote” argument, writing that each registered voter and each registered entity property owner receives only one vote in Fenwick’s municipal elections.
The court also rejected comparisons to vote dilution. "In my view, even if Plaintiff had made a 'vote dilution' or 'one person/one vote' claim under the Equal Protections Clause, it fails," said Karsnitz. "Plaintiff does not assert facts that would adequately support such a claim. Plaintiff does not allege discrimination based on race or political partisanship, malapportionment among voting districts, that natural person voters are a minority or are politically cohesive, that entity property vote sufficiently as a bloc to usually defeat the preferred candidates of natural persons, that some votes are weighted or count more than others."
The Town of Fenwick Island will hold its next municipal election on Aug. 1. The deadline to register to vote in this election is June 30 at 4:30 p.m.
