The Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA) would expand access to the ballot box for millions of Americans and ensure that all citizens can easily exercise their right to vote, regardless of their ZIP code. At the same time, this transformational federal voting rights legislation would strengthen election security, improve election administration and campaign finance transparency, and ban partisan gerrymandering.
The FTVA would make voting easier and more secure for more than 754,000 Delaware citizens, of which more than 578,000 are currently registered to vote. A new report from the Center for American Progress provides analysis and statistical extrapolations to illustrate how the 2024 and subsequent election cycles would be transformed if the FTVA’s key voting policies had been enacted in 2022, when the legislation was blocked through the use of the filibuster on the U.S. Senate floor.1
Read the full report
Analysis and projections for Delaware, based on previous academic and expert research as well as original research, demonstrate the transformative impact the FTVA could have for voters in the state.
Unless otherwise cited, the author conducted original analysis and created projections primarily based on data published by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission for past federal election cycles. For a comprehensive look at the data analyzed for this fact sheet, see here.
To put some of the findings below into perspective, the 2020 Delaware presidential election was decided by 96,000 voters, and the 2020 Delaware U.S. Senate election was decided by 106,000 voters.2
96,000
voters decided the 2020 Delaware presidential election
106,000
voters decided the 2020 Delaware U.S. Senate election
48,000
additional Delaware voters would likely cast a ballot in 2024 general election
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Take Action: Pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
Same-day voter registration
The FTVA would ensure eligible Delaware citizens can register to vote at the polls on Election Day and during an early voting period.3 Same-day voter registration (SDR) greatly benefits communities that tend to move more frequently and therefore need to update their voter registration information more often; Hispanic Americans and young Americans are among the demographic populations that move around the most frequently.4 Additionally, SDR helps mitigate issues with inaccurate voter roll purges that often disproportionately affect voters of color.5 The SDR policy in the FTVA would ensure that voters inaccurately removed from the voter rolls are able not only to re-register at the polls but also to cast a nonprovisional ballot.
Across the past three federal election cycles, Hispanic voters in states with SDR had an average voter turnout rate that was 6.6 percentage points higher than that of Hispanic voters in states without SDR; during the last presidential election, it was 4.5 percentage points higher. Additionally, academic experts have found that SDR increases youth voter turnout by between 3.1 percentage points and 7.3 percentage points.6 Given these findings:
- Approximately 8,000 additional Hispanic voters would likely cast a ballot if voter turnout for Delaware Hispanic voters was at the same rate as for Hispanic voters in states with SDR.
- As many as 6,000 more young Delawareans—those ages 18 to 24—would likely cast a ballot in the 2024 general election.
Re-enfranchisement
The FTVA would restore the right to vote for returning citizens who have served time for felony sentences. Black Americans are incarcerated at five times the rate of white Americans, while Hispanic/Latino Americans are incarcerated at nearly two-and-a-half times the rate of white Americans.7 With enactment of the FTVA:
- More than 4,000 Delawareans could have regained their right to vote and become eligible to cast a ballot for the 2024 general election, including 2,000 Black Delawareans.8
Voting by mail
The FTVA would ensure that all Delaware voters can request a mail-in ballot.9 During the last general election, states that allowed all voters to request a mail-in ballot (no-excuse states) had a 19 percent average vote-by-mail rate, compared with 5.1 percent for states that required a preapproved excuse (excuse states). Additionally, no-excuse states had an average voter turnout rate that was 6.7 percentage points higher than that of excuse states. Given these findings:
- Approximately 70,000 more Delaware voters who have participated in recent elections would likely cast their ballot by mail instead of in person for the 2024 general election.
- Approximately 48,000 additional voters would likely cast a ballot in the 2024 general election if voter turnout in Delaware increased by 6.7 percentage points, mirroring higher turnouts seen in no-excuse states.
Ballot drop boxes
The FTVA would ensure Delawareans have access to ballot drop boxes 24 hours per day, 7 days per week in order to efficiently, cost-effectively, and securely return mail-in ballots. In states that allow all voters to request a mail-in ballot and provide drop boxes, on average, 27.9 percent of mail-in ballots are returned by drop box. Given the requirement for drop boxes in the FTVA, CAP analysis finds that:
- At least 13 drop boxes would be available to voters across Delaware.
- Approximately 26,000 Delaware voters would likely return their ballot to a drop box.