Judge guts Republican crusade against mail-in voting with a single word

Republicans suffered yet another blow in their legal war against mail-in voting — this time in the state of Delaware.

A Delaware court has once again upheld the state's 16-year-old permanent absentee voting law, dealing a fresh defeat to Republican state Sen. Gerald Hocker in his years-long crusade against the program. The opinion was flagged by the liberal elections outlet Democracy Docket on Tuesday.

Hocker, who is running for re-election, as well as fellow Senate candidate Steven Washington, argued Delaware's Permanent-Absentee Statute unconstitutionally lets voters receive absentee ballots indefinitely, without reaffirming their eligibility each election, violating the state constitution's specific list of qualifying reasons for absentee voting. Vice Chancellor David disagreed, ruling the law does no such thing.

The court found the law only allows a narrower slice of voters, those with qualifying illnesses, disabilities, military service, or caregiving duties, to skip reapplying every cycle, while still requiring them to notify the state the moment their situation changes. If a voter's reason for needing absentee status stops applying, the state must cancel it immediately.

"'Permanent' is therefore a misnomer," the court wrote, explaining the label doesn't mean what plaintiffs claimed.

This marks the third time this dispute has reached Delaware courts.

A related 2022 lawsuit brought by voter Michael Mennella, later joined by Hocker himself, initially succeeded at the Superior Court level in 2024, only for the state Supreme Court to reverse on standing grounds, ruling Hocker hadn't shown real harm since he wasn't yet an active candidate at the time. With Hocker now actually running for reelection this November, the court determined he finally had legal standing to sue again — but lost on the merits this time around.

The judge also rejected claims that the state's own oversight failures, including reports of roughly 1,000 permanent absentee voters no longer receiving mail at their listed addresses and nearly 200 deceased registrants still on the rolls, made the law unconstitutional, noting Delaware's election office already sends periodic eligibility reminders and purges ineligible voters as it identifies them.

President Donald Trump is seeking to enforce nationwide restrictions on mail-in voting through the Postal Service. That order is currently blocked, with the Justice Department asking the Supreme Court to allow it to move forward.