a43f31b272
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
89 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
89 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ABSENTEE VOTING."
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description: "This bill removes the notary requirement for requests for absentee ballots. Delaware is the only state that requires a notary to authorize a voter's affidavit for an absentee ballot. In some cases, the potential voter may have to pay for the notary and Delaware essentially charges them to vote."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
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legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
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session: "149"
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identifier: "HB 47"
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citation: "Delaware HB 47 (149)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Brian J. Bushweller", "Brian Pettyjohn", "Kimberly Williams", "Lyndon D. Yearick"]
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version_count: 1
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action_count: 13
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vote_count: 3
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first_action: "2017-01-24"
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last_action: "2017-07-28"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a3f11567-9816-4af6-99fe-704cccebcd17"
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source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25413"
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source_hash: "678496a572b61fcc18fd1e8bb3d6116e74c46ad3ae6dce02fc3e6893f8a7003f"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
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---
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# Delaware HB 47 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ABSENTEE VOTING.
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This bill removes the notary requirement for requests for absentee ballots. Delaware is the only state that requires a notary to authorize a voter's affidavit for an absentee ballot. In some cases, the potential voter may have to pay for the notary and Delaware essentially charges them to vote.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=25413&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB47)
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## Votes
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- SM — **39–0** (pass) · lower
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- SM — **19–0** (pass) · upper
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- SM — **37–0** (pass) · lower
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## Sponsors
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- Brian J. Bushweller — primary (person)
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- Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
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- Kimberly Williams — primary (person)
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- Lyndon D. Yearick — primary (person)
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- Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
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- Daniel B. Short — cosponsor (person)
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- David Bentz — cosponsor (person)
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- Debra Heffernan — cosponsor (person)
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- F. Gary Simpson — cosponsor (person)
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- Harris B. McDowell — cosponsor (person)
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- John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
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- John Walsh — cosponsor (person)
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- Joseph E. Miro — cosponsor (person)
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- Margaret Rose Henry — cosponsor (person)
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- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
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- Timothy D. Dukes — cosponsor (person)
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- Trey Charles Paradee — cosponsor (person)
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- William R. Outten — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2017-01-24** Introduced and Assigned to House Administration Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2017-03-15** Reported Out of Committee (House Administration) in House with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
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- **2017-03-21** Amendment HA 1 to HB 47 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
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- **2017-03-21** Amendment HA 1 to HB 47 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
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- **2017-03-21** Amendment HA 2 to HB 47 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
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- **2017-03-21** Amendment HA 2 to HB 47 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
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- **2017-03-21** Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 1 NOT VOTING 3 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2017-03-21** Assigned to Elections & Government Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2017-04-26** Reported Out of Committee (Elections & Government Affairs) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
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- **2017-06-21** Amendment SA 1 to HB 47 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT `amendment-passage`
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- **2017-06-21** Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2017-06-22** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2017-07-28** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a3f11567-9816-4af6-99fe-704cccebcd17`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).
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