Alonna Berry and Nikki Miller

Early voting continues in the special election for Delaware’s District 20 House seat, with Democrat Alonna Berry facing off against Republican Nikki Miller.

SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. - Early voting continues in the special election for Delaware’s District 20 House seat, with Democrat Alonna Berry facing off against Republican Nikki Miller.

The seat was vacated earlier this summer by former Democratic Representative Stell Parker Selby.

Questions are swirling between the two candidates and voters alike. Miller alleges that Berry has never held a teaching license, per a Facebook post. On Berry's Facebook, she explains her experience as a 5th grade math teacher, instructional coach and school founder. CoastTV reached out to the Delaware Department of Education who says Berry had her initial teaching license when it was required and was not required to renew as she moved to more instructional coach-type roles.

Miller has also spoken out about Berry's voting history in this year's Cape Henlopen school board election or either of the 2024 referendums. Berry says she was dealing with complications following child birth and argues her experience shows why voting needs to be stronger.

The Delaware Department of Elections also confirmed that Miller was not listed as a candidate of the special election on their website until around 8:30 a.m. Monday, July 28. While the department attributes this error to a technical problem, Sussex County Republican Party chair Daniel Willis says he received an email from the department pointing to human error.

"The Department is reviewing its internal policies regarding website updates and confirmation that updates are completed in a timely manner to avoid any such error in the future," state election commissioner Anthony Albence said "The Department received the nomination materials for Ms. Miller near the end of business hours on July 10th and processed them upon receipt." 

However, the department confirms that Miller was always on the ballot and her nomination was posted via social media channels.

At the end of the day Monday, which was day four of early voting, the totals were 3,688 votes, meaning 16 percent of the district, according to the Department of Elections.

Tags

Locations

Reporter

Emma Aken joined CoastTV News in July of 2024, after graduating from Penn State with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a minor in business. While at CoastTV, she’s reported on everything from breaking news, continued investigative coverage, spot news, development stories and a variety of other local issues.

Emma is currently the Weekend Anchor, producing and anchoring the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays.While at Penn State, she was involved in Penn State Network News, where she grew even more passionate about the news industry. Emma is from Rochester, New York. She loves summer, traveling and spending time with her friends and family. For as long as she can remember, Emma has enjoyed writing, filming and storytelling. She is honored to tell the stories of those along the coast.

To contact her with story ideas, email her at eaken@wrde.com.

Recommended for you