DELAWARE - Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer signed the Delaware John Lewis Voting Rights Act on Thursday, Aug. 6, creating new state-level voting rights protections aimed at preventing voter discrimination, suppression and vote dilution.
Meyer signed House Bill 444 at Shiloh Baptist Church in Wilmington alongside the bill's sponsors, legislative leaders and voting rights advocates on the anniversary of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Founded in 1875, Shiloh Baptist Church is Delaware's oldest African American Baptist congregation.
The new law establishes a Delaware Voting Rights Act that prohibits voter discrimination, voter suppression and vote dilution while creating legal mechanisms to challenge alleged violations of voting rights protections.
The legislation also requires the Delaware Department of Elections to provide language assistance to help expand ballot access for voters.
Under the law, members of protected classes, or organizations representing them, may bring civil actions alleging violations of voting rights protections. Political subdivisions are given an opportunity to address alleged discrimination before litigation proceeds.
Meyer said the law reinforces Delaware's commitment to protecting voting rights.
"Today, we sent a clear message to the nation: when Washington retreats on voting rights, Delaware steps up," Meyer said in a statement. "By signing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we're ensuring that every Delawarean can control their own future and exercise the most fundamental right granted to them by our Constitution: the right to vote."
House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown said the measure comes as voting rights protections are being challenged at the federal level.
"We will continue to grow and change to reflect the will of our people, no matter what happens on the federal level," Minor-Brown said.
Rep. Larry Lambert, the bill's primary sponsor, called the legislation "an important step" in protecting Delawareans' right to vote and credited lawmakers, the governor and advocacy groups for helping move the bill forward.
Sen. Marie Pinkney, the lead Senate sponsor, said the measure makes Delaware the first state to establish such protections in state law following the U.S. Supreme Court's Callais ruling. She said the law is designed to protect voters from suppression and vote dilution while promoting equal representation.
State leaders said the legislation was developed through collaboration among Lambert, Pinkney, the ACLU of Delaware, the Governor's Office, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the League of Women Voters and other voting rights advocates.
House Bill 444 takes effect July 1, 2027.
