[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Town of Middletown as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 11-3-2008]
A. 
The Mayor and Council have identified a need and find it to be in the public's interest to establish a procedure for absentee registration and for the casting of absentee ballots; and
B. 
It is the intention of this article that only a qualified voter may vote under the provisions of this article, who may be absent on the day of an election from the Town of Middletown, because of service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or in the public service of this state or of the United States, or because of his business or occupation, or because of personal sickness or disability or because of the tenets or teachings of his religion so that he cannot appear at the polling place on the day of any election.
Any person qualified under the provisions of the Town of Middletown Charter to vote by absentee ballot in any Town of Middletown election may vote by absentee ballot for any reason authorized by the Town's Charter and for any of the following reasons:
A. 
Public service: because such person is in the public service of the United States or of this state, or is a citizen of the United States and temporarily residing outside the territorial limits of the United States and the District of Columbia, or such person's spouse or dependents when residing with or accompanying him, or is absent from this state because of illness or injury received while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States;
B. 
Armed Forces: because such person is in the Armed Forces of the United States or the Merchant Marines of the United States, or attached to and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States in the American Red Cross or United Service Organizations;
C. 
Business: because of the nature of such person's business or occupation, including the business or occupation of providing care to a parent, spouse or that person's child who is living at home and requires constant care due to illness or injury;
D. 
Sick; disabled: because such person is sick or physically disabled;
E. 
Vacation: because such person is absent from the Town of Middletown while on vacation; or
F. 
Religion: because such person is unable to vote at a certain time or on a certain day due to the tenets or teachings of that person's religion.
A. 
Any voter desiring to vote by absentee ballot in an election for which the elector is a qualified voter may request an absentee ballot from the Town of Middletown by filing a written affidavit with Town Clerk's office, subscribed and sworn by the voter before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths, no later than 12:00 noon the day before the election.
B. 
Affidavits filed shall indicate the voter's name; the address within the Town of Middletown at which the voter establishes eligibility to vote; the address to which the voter requests that the absentee ballot be mailed; the voter's date of birth; the voter's expected location on election day; the reason that the voter cannot appear at the regular polling place on the day of election, which reason shall be any of the reasons listed above; a telephone number, if available; and the voter's signature.
C. 
Upon receipt of a voter's affidavit, the election inspector, not more than 60 days nor less than four days prior to an election and within three days after the ballots, envelopes and instructions for absentee voters become available, shall mail to the voter, postage prepaid by the Town, an absentee ballot, instructions for completing the ballot and returning it to the Town and a ballot envelope addressed to the Town which the voter is to use when returning the ballot. Nothing contained in this provision shall prevent the issuance of an absentee ballot to those lawfully entitled thereto when the request is made fewer than four days prior to the election.
A. 
The procedure for completing an absentee ballot and returning it to the Town is as follows:
(1) 
The voter shall complete the ballot and shall return it in the ballot envelope provided by the Town.
(2) 
The voter shall confirm that the information about that voter on the ballot envelope is correct and then sign the self-administered oath.
(3) 
The voter shall then seal the ballot envelope.
(4) 
The voter shall return the sealed ballot envelope to the Town by depositing it in a United States postal mailbox, thereby mailing it to the Town or delivering it, or causing it to be delivered to the Town Clerk before the polls close on the day of the election.
B. 
For an absentee ballot to be counted, a voter by absentee ballot shall return the ballot to the Town Clerk before the polls close on the day of the election.
All other provisions regarding requirements for the ballot envelope, counting procedure for absentee ballots, procedure on receipt of ballot envelope, preparing absentee ballots to be counted, carrier envelope specifications, challenges, rejected ballots, validity of absentee voter's ballot, procedure if requests or ballots sent to wrong official; and file of absentee voters shall be governed by Title 15, Chapter 75, of the Delaware Code.