Citizens for Judicial Fairness partnered with Wilmington-based activist Keandra McDole and supporters to highlight the Delaware Chancery and Supreme Court’s decision to strike down same-day voter registration and vote-by-mail legislation passed by the state legislature.
Canvassers will go to major polling sites in Wilmington to register voters who are turned away at the polls and urge them to advocate for Delaware’s leaders to protect voting rights, a release stated.
Said Keandra McDole , “We refuse to be silent when our sacred right to vote is stripped away by all-white, mostly male groups of judges, even in a Democratic-led state like Delaware. We’re out in the streets canvassing because Delawareans deserve to know that their rights are under attack, and we need to join our voices together to fight for lasting change. We won’t stop until our courts reflect us and our rights are respected by Delaware’s leaders.”
Said Citizens for Judicial Fairness Campaign Manager Chris Coffey , “John Carney’s Delaware is a case study in hypocrisy and bad faith. Is it any surprise that after years of Carney appointing rich, out-of-touch white men to the state’s top courts, those courts then turn around and gut Delawareans’ right to vote? We’re exposing this cycle of hypocrisy and activating disenfranchised Delawareans to take action and fight for their rights.” Carney signed the legislation, with Republicans taking the issue to Chancery Court.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the legislation was unconstitutional.
Republicans earlier blocked a constitutional amendment authorizing same-day voting, citing a need to clean up the voter rolls.
Following the election, Citizens for Judicial Fairness announced it will mobilize its members to call on the state legislature to put expanded voting into the Delaware Constitution.
McDole has been an advocate for police reform and has clashed with the state Department of Justice over protests at the residences of officials. A settlement was later reached.
The judicial fairness group got its start out of a dispute over the Chancery Court-supervised sale of New York-based TransPerfect. The group then pivoted toward criticism of the lack of diversity in the court system enlisting the Rev. Al Sharpton and others in making its case.
The group has pressed for a Black member of Chancery, a court that mainly deals with complex corporate disputes. There were apparently no Black applicants when the last vacancy came up.
