DELAWARE - A bill that would create uniform rules for ballot recounts in Delaware elections has advanced out of committee and is now on the House Ready List, where it awaits potential floor debate and a full vote. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-36), comes after he called for a recount of his most recent election.
The bill is backed by Sen. Buckson, Rep. Hilovsky, and Sen. Wilson and aims to streamline recount procedures across statewide, legislative, county, Wilmington and school board elections. The legislation was introduced on March 18 and cleared committee review on May 21.
If passed, the law would trigger automatic recounts when the vote difference is 1 percent or less, eliminating the current mixed thresholds and the need for candidates or voters to initiate the process.
In the last race for Milford's republican representative, Shupe ran for reelection against Patrick Smith. Shupe just barely beat Smith 1,157 to 1,145. Patrick Smith requested a recount to the Department of Elections. The Department of Elections did not proceed with the recount because under Delaware law, an automatic recount is triggered when the margin of victory is less than 0.5 percent. In this case, the margin stood at 0.521 percent, just outside the threshold for a recount. However, on Sept. 14 CoastTV reported Shupe would call for an audit of the results of the primary election.
Key changes proposed
The bill would eliminate:
The need for a candidate to request a recount after general elections for state-level and county offices, and in Wilmington
The requirement for 25 voters to petition for a recount in school district elections
Set a uniform recount threshold of 1 percent or less of the total vote
Replace the current formula, which uses either a difference of less than 1,000 votes or 0.5 percent, whichever is less, for many offices
Who would be affected
The uniform 1 percent threshold would mainly impact statewide and New Castle County-wide elections, where 0.5 percent often exceeds 1,000 votes. By raising the recount trigger to 1 percent, more races could qualify for automatic recounts under this bill.
School district elections would also see more recounts. Currently, recounts in those races require a margin of less than 10 votes or 0.5 percent, whichever is greater. With the new 1 percent threshold, recounts would become more accessible when results are close.