DELAWARE - Sen. Gerald Hocker has filed a complaint against Delaware’s State Election Commissioner over state's permanent absentee voting system.
The Delaware Constitution permits absentee voting only for qualified voters who meet specified circumstances, such as illness, disability, certain work or public-service obligations, vacation, or religious reasons.
Delaware statutes allow some voters to obtain permanent absentee status which means the department automatically sends them an absentee ballot for each election.
A voter generally remains on the permanent list until something happens—such as death, cancellation of registration, returned mail, a request to leave the program, or notification that the qualifying reason is no longer valid.
"When a ballot is automatically mailed to an address where the voter no longer lives, or to an address associated with someone who has died, there is an obvious opportunity for someone other than the intended voter to gain possession of that ballot," said Hocker in a Facebook post.
According to Hocker's complaint, the state does not require a fresh verification of the voter's qualifying circumstance before each election. He argues that this means someone could receive and cast an absentee ballot even though they no longer meet the constitutional requirements.
"This is another bad faith, 11th-hour voter suppression attempt from a plaintiff who seems to have forgotten that he once voted to pass the law he now seeks to destroy," said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. "Tens of thousands of veterans, senior citizens, and Delawareans with disabilities rely on early and permanent absentee voting. We’ve beaten this lawsuit before and we’ll do it again."
Hocker is running for reelection to Delaware's 20th State Senate District in the November 3, 2026 general election. He says that, as both a candidate and voter, he has a legal interest in having only valid votes counted.
