Why Delaware considered revoking No Labels Party's voter registration status

No Labels Delaware’s ability to register voters to the new bipartisan political party was nearly revoked after the state elections commissioner received dozens of complaints from voters alleging they had been misled into changing their political affiliations.

In a Jan. 11 letter, Delaware Elections Commissioner Anthony Albence threatened to permanently revoke the group’s “Organized Voter Registration” status and “strongly” requested the group “cease and desist” all of its voter registration efforts in Delaware until a final determination could be made.

In recent months, over 30 voters contacted the Department of Elections after they discovered their political party registrations had been changed to the No Labels Party unbeknownst to them.

In late January, Albence withdrew his revocation threat after the local No Labels Party responded to his letter.

Attorneys for No Labels Delaware in a Jan. 25 letter denied the allegations and suggested the complaints from voters shouldn’t be taken at face value. They said the revocation of No Labels’ ability to register voters would prevent the group “from ensuring its own ballot qualification.

“No Labels Delaware faces active and determined opposition that will undoubtedly use misinformation to convince No Labels Delaware-registered voters to change their registrations and discourage new registrations in the months ahead,” No Labels attorney Theodore Kittila wrote in the letter. “All to undercut (the group’s) ballot qualification on August 20 and all to block Delawareans from having an opportunity to vote for No Labels Delaware’s Unity Presidential Ticket.”

The No Labels Party has worked to gain traction and ballot access across the country since 2009, and offers a bipartisan political party option that avoids the extreme of mainstream politics.

When Albence decided not to revoke the party's status, he stressed in a Jan. 30 letter that the political party “should do a much better job” of complying with the state and its own requirements involving voter registration applications.

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The political party continues to submit incomplete voter registration applications, he added.

“Without question, fully and properly completed voter registration applications should be the norm, not the exception,” Albence said.

The group was granted ballot access as of Feb. 1, state elections officials said, as it had surpassed the 769 registered voters needed for ballot status at the beginning of the year.

State Code dictates that a party must gather at least 10/100 of 1% of the total number of registered voters in Delaware 21 days before the date of a state primary election.

Why the election commissioner sought to revoke No Labels status

Under Delaware law, a group approved for “Organized Voter Registration” status in the state is prohibited from engaging in activities that seek “to influence an applicant’s political preference or party registration,” Albence wrote Jan. 11.

The elections commissioner said No Labels Delaware has submitted 1,316 new or changed voter registration applications, “all of which were previously registered Delaware voters who changed their political party to the No Labels Party, or are newly registered voters” registered under the bipartisan party.

“The department has heard from many voters who were surprised and upset to learn their political party has been changed to the No Labels Party” due to No Labels voter registration activities, Albence said.

The department received “numerous complaints” from voters alleging they were “misled or lied to by No Labels Delaware personnel,” influencing them to switch parties.

Voters told the state department they were not informed that changing their political party would make them ineligible to vote in Delaware primary elections. In other instances, voters said they were told by No Labels personnel that completing the voter registration form wouldn’t change their political affiliations.

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In the letter sent to No Labels Delaware on Jan. 11, the department included call logs of over 30 voters who had reached out concerned about their political party switch. The logs do not include names or other identifying information regarding those who complained, but many complainants thought they were signing petitions to ensure No Labels gets ballot access, not change their political parties.

One caller “was so upset and angry about this happening to her she came into the election office and filled out the All In One form,” a Dec. 11 complaint log reads. “I showed her the document that we used to change her party and she said those are not her initials’ next to the No Labels in Political Party Affiliation.”

Other calls were alerted to the party change from letters they received in the mail, which prompted voters to reach out.

A caller on Dec. 7 “didn’t understand why she got a letter from us stating she recently changed her party,” the complaint log reads. “Was upset that it had been changed because the person told her they are just getting support for their party not changing anything from them. She said she would go online and change it.”

No Labels Delaware attorneys took issue with the elections department taking the word of a reporter who contacted the state agency about the bipartisan group’s practices and sought to downplay the call log complaints the department received, suggesting that some of the “complaints” weren’t complaints at all.

“The remaining 28 call log entries vaguely describe instances of misunderstanding and confusion relayed by unidentified and unverified callers,” Kittila said. “Even if these 28 instances are taken at face value (which they should not be), they would represent a mere 2.1 percent of the 1,316 new or changed voter registrations by No Labels Delaware.”

Kittila said No Labels Delaware goes to great lengths to prevent voter confusion, including training personnel, and closely adheres to the “best practices” for organized voter registration events.

What is No Labels Delaware’s current status?

No Labels Delaware concluded its Jan. 25 letter to the elections department by suggesting that the elections commissioner’s threat to revoke its organized voter registration status was “facilitating” opposition “in violation of state and federal law” and threatened to sue the state if the commissioner didn’t rescind the revocation threat.

Ben duPont, No Labels Delaware co-chair, said as much in a Jan. 16 Delaware Online/The News Journal op-ed.

“No Labels’ work in Delaware is part of our nationwide effort to secure a ballot line that we could potentially offer to a Unity presidential ticket in 2024, featuring a Republican and Democrat as running mates,” he said. “We’re undertaking this work on behalf of the majority of Americans and Delawareans who are unsatisfied with their two likely choices for president and are demanding another option.”

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The elections commissioner took issue with No Labels Delaware attempting to “minimize the impact on voters” regarding the issues Albence alerted the political party to in his original letter.

“You stated that the issues cited by the department impacted what you described as a small number (‘a mere 2.1 percent’) of voters,” the elections commissioner said. “However, I maintain that even one instance of lack of clarity or transparency to a voter, creating confusion for the voter, or not following established procedures resulting in an incomplete application, could adversely impact that voter’s ability to register to vote and/or their eligibility to vote in an election.”

Got a tip? Contact Amanda Fries at afries@delawareonline.com. Follow her on X at @mandy_fries.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Why Delaware elections considered revoking No Labels Party status