Election

Voters head to the polls in Delaware’s general election

Charlie Megginson, Jarek RutzGovernment, Headlines

Delaware 2022 general election

(Jarek Rutz/Delaware LIVE News)

With hours to go before polls close, nearly 200,000 Delawareans have already cast their ballots in the 2022 general election.

If you haven’t voted yet (and you want to), here’s where you should go and what you should do.

Of the votes already cast, about 48% have been by Democrats, 33% by Republicans, and 18% by people who belong to a third or no party.

Election results will begin to trickle in after polls close at 8 p.m.

RELATED: Delaware election results 2022

Voters will decide Tuesday who will represent them in the United States House of Representatives. Delaware has only one member in that chamber of Congress. 

On the ballot: Democratic incumbent Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, Republican Lee Murphy, Libertarian Cody McNutt and David Rogers of Delaware’s Non-Partisan Party.

Three statewide executive seats are up for grabs: attorney general, state treasurer and state auditor.

Candidates for attorney general include incumbent Democrat Kathy Jennings and Republican attorney Julianne Murray — the same Julianne Murray who fought for and won a state Supreme Court ruling effectively banning mail-in voting in this election.

Incumbent state treasurer and former physician assistant Colleen Davis, a Democrat, is hoping to defeat Republican financial advisor Greg Coverdale.

RELATED: State treasurer race boils down to experience, values

One familiar name isn’t on the ballot — that of Kathy McGuiness, the state auditor whose political career went down in flames after she was convicted of two misdemeanor public corruption charges in July.

In her place is Democrat Lydia York, an accountant and attorney facing a challenge from Republican attorney Janice Lorrah, who sued Delaware’s governor last year over his school mask mandate.

RELATED: Meet the candidates for Delaware state auditor

Every seat in the state legislature is up for grabs and several county offices are on the ballot, too.

The weeks leading up to the election were particularly divisive, with voters contemplating weighty issues like abortion, election integrity and political violence.

Many candidates have argued that democracy itself is on the ballot.

Voters will decide! Here’s what some of them think:

Megan Armstead, a voter at P.S. DuPont Middle School, said candidates have influenced her vote more than particular issues.

Ongoing economic decline and booming inflation are issues Armstead said she’s particularly concerned about.

“You want to vote for people who are going to do something about the issues in your community, and I believe the Democrats will,” she said.

Armstead voted Democrat all the way down the ballot. 

Nancy Carcaldi, a woman in her 70s, said the only thing crazy about abortion rights is how loose and lenient they’ve become in the past few decades. 

“I used to be very open and agreeable to abortion laws, but medical science has now progressed to the point where we don’t need abortions,” Carcaldi said. “People have abused the privilege to an abortion and in the end, just be responsible, because even in the case of rape, you can take the morning after pill.”

She quickly added that the morning-after pill doesn’t always work, but said in those cases, limiting abortion access to within the first two or three months of pregnancy is “something most people can agree with.”

Carcaldi’s desire for America’s borders to be strengthened is another reason she thought it so important to vote. 

“I came out to vote because I’m old-school and voting is a responsibility I have as a citizen,” she said. 

David Holt, a man in his 60s, said Medicaid and Social Security are the two most important factors that he’s paying attention to in this election. 

He voted straight-ticket Democrat and said “it’s just crazy that they took away Roe v. Wade.” He would like to see it codified. 

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