Republican legislators, after walking out Thursday before a vote on the state capital budget, were able to get Democrats to meet their demand to pass a bill allowing non-resident property owners to vote in Seaford municipal elections.
None of this sat well with Common Cause, which opposed the legislation.
The final vote was 35-6. It clears the way for the capital budget to be passed. The capital (building) budget is closely watched among contractors and others in Delaware, given its size and impact.
House minority leader Michael Ramone, R-Newark/Pike Creek, citing broken promises from Democrats, said GOP legislators would stay away and would demand that other pieces of their legislative agenda be passed before okaying the budget. Budgets require a three-fourths vote of legislators, with the vote on the Seaford issue falling short.
“We’re horrified and disappointed that this bill passed. Corporations have no place in our elections — full stop,” said Claire Snyder-Hall, executive director of Common Cause Delaware. “In a state with more registered businesses than residents, this bill gives wealthy outsiders the power to override the actual people of Seaford. Hopefully, it will not make it through the Senate.”
Common Cause noted that in 2019, the Newark City Council passed a resolution to stop artificial entities from voting in local elections after a Newark property manager in control of 31 LLCs, which own 31 parcels of land in the city, voted 31 times during a $28 million capital referendum. In 2018, Rehoboth Beach residents stopped a proposal to allow LLCs to vote, Common Cause noted.
The LLC bill drew national media attention and led to amped-up opposition from the growing number of progressive Democrats.
In the end, the Senate did not take up the measure before the legislative session ended, with the measure not becoming law this year.
