---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEWARK RELATING TO NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS."
description: "The bill amends the Charter of the City of Newark by changing the timeline for special elections from no less than 30 and no more than 60 days after a vacancy occurs to no less than 60 and no more than 90 days after a vacancy. In addition, the bill sets the filing deadline for special elections at 29 days prior to the election."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "151"
identifier: "HB 268"
citation: "Delaware HB 268 (151)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David P. Sokola", "John A. Kowalko", "Paul S. Baumbach"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-12-16"
last_action: "2022-02-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/759b0dd7-7037-47cc-81ef-222ddd656988"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=79042"
source_hash: "f6b24716f8d385920387f5c2f83b1908fb8377a5fde858e7485af0a2162cdc12"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware HB 268 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEWARK RELATING TO NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS.

The bill amends the Charter of the City of Newark by changing the timeline for special elections from no less than 30 and no more than 60 days after a vacancy occurs to no less than 60 and no more than 90 days after a vacancy. In addition, the bill sets the filing deadline for special elections at 29 days prior to the election.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=79042&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB268)

## Votes

- 2/3 — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- 2/3 — **40–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- John A. Kowalko — primary (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — primary (person)
- Bryan Townsend — cosponsor (person)
- Edward S. Osienski — cosponsor (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — cosponsor (person)
- Kyle Evans Gay — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-12-16** Introduced and Assigned to Administration Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-01-11** Reported Out of Committee (Administration) in House with 3 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-01-20** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2022-01-20** Assigned to Elections & Government Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-01-27** Reported Out of Committee (Elections & Government Affairs) in Senate with 2 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-01-27** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2022-02-07** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/759b0dd7-7037-47cc-81ef-222ddd656988`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).