A judge in Delaware has found that certain early and absentee voting laws violate that state’s constitution. This is a win for election integrity there!

From ABC News. Laws allowing early voting and permanent absentee status violate Delaware’s constitution and are invalid, a judge ruled in a lawsuit brought by a state elections inspector and a Republican lawmaker.

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The laws are “inconsistent with our constitution and therefore cannot stand,” Superior Court Judge Mark Conner declared in a ruling late Friday.

Elections inspector Michael Mennella and Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker showed by “clear and convincing evidence” that the laws were unconstitutional, the judge said. …

“The words in our constitution have meaning, and they are given their plain meaning by the courts,” Jane Brady, former Delaware attorney general and former state GOP chair, said in a statement Monday. Brady represented Mennella and Hocker, having earlier joined Georgetown lawyer and current GOP chair Julianne Murray in challenging the vote-by-mail and same-day registration laws.

It is unclear whether state officials will appeal the ruling. …

Conner found that a law allowing in-person voting for a least 10 days before an election violated a constitutional provision stating that general elections must be held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.

“Our constitution provides only one such day, not any day or series of days the General Assembly sees fit,” he wrote.

State attorneys argued that the General Assembly has authority to enact voting laws, but Conner noted that the constitution says those laws must be intended to “secure secrecy and the independence of the voter, preserve the freedom and purity of elections and prevent fraud, corruption and intimidation.” The defendants failed to demonstrate how early voting accomplishes those goals, he said.

The judge also said that, under the constitution, voters can request absentee status only for specific elections at which they cannot appear at the polls. Under a 2019 law, however, a person who voted absentee one year because of the flu could continue to vote absentee in all future general elections, Conner noted.

Delaware currently has more than 20,000 permanent absentee voters, out of more than 770,000 registered voters. …

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(Excerpt from ABC News. Photo Credit: Chalirmpoj Pimpisarn/Getty Images via Canva Pro)