Editing Delaware (section)

==Law and government==
Delaware's fourth and current constitution, adopted in 1897, provides for executive, judicial and legislative branches.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Delaware Constitution of 1897 as amended|url=http://delcode.delaware.gov/constitution/|website=State of Delaware|access-date=August 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908150654/http://www.delcode.delaware.gov/constitution/|archive-date=September 8, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Legislative branch===
[[File:Delaware State Capitol.jpg|right|thumb|The [[Delaware General Assembly]] meets in [[Delaware Legislative Hall]] in [[Dover, Delaware|Dover]].]]
The [[Delaware General Assembly]] consists of a [[Delaware House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] with 41 members and a [[Delaware Senate|Senate]] with 21 members. It sits in Dover, the state capital. Representatives are elected to two-year terms, while senators are elected to four-year terms. The Senate confirms judicial and other nominees appointed by the governor.

Delaware's U.S. Senators are [[Lisa Blunt Rochester]] (Democrat) and [[Chris Coons]]  (Democrat). Delaware's single U.S. Representative is [[Sarah McBride]] (Democrat).

===Judicial branch===
The Delaware Constitution establishes a number of courts:
* The [[Delaware Supreme Court]] is the state's highest court.
* The [[Delaware Superior Court]] is the state's trial court of general jurisdiction.
* The [[Delaware Court of Chancery]] deals primarily in corporate disputes.
* The [[Family court#In the United States|Family Court]] handles domestic and custody matters.
* The [[Delaware Court of Common Pleas]] has jurisdiction over a limited class of civil and criminal matters.

Minor non-constitutional courts include the [[Justice of the Peace]] Courts and Aldermen's Courts.

Significantly, Delaware has one of the few remaining Courts of [[Court of equity|Chancery]] in the nation, which has jurisdiction over [[Equity (law)|equity]] cases, the vast majority of which are corporate disputes, many relating to [[mergers and acquisitions]]. The [[Delaware Court of Chancery|Court of Chancery]] and the Delaware Supreme Court have developed a worldwide reputation for rendering concise opinions concerning [[corporate law]] which generally (but not always) grant broad discretion to corporate boards of directors and officers. In addition, the [[Delaware General Corporation Law]], which forms the basis of the Courts' opinions, is widely regarded as giving great flexibility to corporations to manage their affairs. For these reasons, Delaware is considered to have the most business-friendly legal system in the United States; therefore a great number of companies are [[incorporated in Delaware]], including 60% of the companies listed on the [[New York Stock Exchange]].<ref name="divcorpabout">{{cite web|url= http://www.corp.delaware.gov/aboutagency.shtml |title= About Agency|access-date= July 23, 2008 |publisher =Delaware Division of Corporations|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070228002805/http://www.state.de.us/corp/aboutagency.shtml |archive-date=February 28, 2007}}</ref>

Delaware was the last U.S. state to use [[judicial corporal punishment]], in 1952.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pleck|first=Elizabeth Hefkin|title=Domestic Tyranny: The Making of American Social Policy Against Family Violence from Colonial Times to the Present|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2004|page=120|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zN2A2shTz6YC&pg=PA120|isbn=978-0-252-07175-1|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231231119/https://books.google.com/books?id=zN2A2shTz6YC&pg=PA120|archive-date=December 31, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Executive branch===
{{See also|List of governors of Delaware}}

The executive branch is headed by the [[Governor of Delaware]]. The current governor is [[Matt Meyer]] (Democrat), who took office January 21, 2025. The lieutenant governor is [[Kyle Evans Gay]]. The governor presents a "[[State of the State]]" speech to a [[joint session]] of the Delaware legislature annually.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.delawarestatehouse.com/ |year=2010 |title=Delaware House of Representatives Minority Caucus |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416030742/http://www.delawarestatehouse.com/ |archive-date=April 16, 2009 |access-date=January 24, 2001 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The executive branch also consists of the [[Attorney General of Delaware]] currently held by [[Kathy Jennings]], the State Treasurer currently held by [[Colleen Davis]], the Auditor of Accounts currently held by [[Lydia York]] and the Insurance Commissioner currently held by [[Trinidad Navarro]].

===Counties===

Delaware is subdivided into [[List of counties in Delaware|three counties]]; from north to south they are [[New Castle County, Delaware|New Castle]], [[Kent County, Delaware|Kent]] and [[Sussex County, Delaware|Sussex]]. This is the fewest among all states. Each county elects its own legislative body (known in New Castle and Sussex counties as '''County Council''', and in Kent County as '''Levy Court'''), which deal primarily in zoning and development issues. Most functions which are handled on a county-by-county basis in other states—such as court and law enforcement—have been centralized in Delaware, leading to a significant concentration of power in the Delaware state government. The counties were historically divided into [[Hundred (country subdivision)|hundreds]], which were used as tax reporting and voting districts until the 1960s, but now serve no administrative role, their only current official legal use being in real estate title descriptions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.delaware.gov/museums/vc/vc_hundreds.shtml |title=The Hundreds of Delaware |website=Department of State: Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs |publisher=Delaware State Archives |access-date=September 28, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617061234/http://history.delaware.gov/museums/vc/vc_hundreds.shtml |archive-date=June 17, 2010 }}</ref>

===Politics===
{{Main|Politics of Delaware}}
[[File:Joe Biden presidential portrait (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Joe Biden]], the 46th president of the United States and a [[United States Senate|U.S. senator]] from Delaware from 1973 to 2009]]
The [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] holds a [[pluralism (political theory)|plurality]] of registrations in Delaware. Currently, Democrats hold all positions of authority in Delaware, as well as majorities in the state Senate and House. The Democrats have held the governorship since 1993, having won the last seven gubernatorial elections. Democrats presently hold all the nine statewide elected offices, while the Republicans last won any statewide offices in 2014, [[State Auditor]] and [[State Treasurer]].

During the [[First Party System|First]] and [[Second Party System]]s, Delaware was a stronghold for the [[Federalist Party|Federalist]] and [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] Parties, respectively. After a relatively brief adherence to the Democratic Solid South following the [[American Civil War|US Civil War]], Delaware became a Republican-leaning state from [[1896 United States presidential election|1896]] through [[1948 United States presidential election|1948]], voting for losing Republicans [[Charles Evans Hughes]] in [[1916 United States presidential election|1916]], [[Herbert Hoover]] in [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]], and [[Thomas E. Dewey|Thomas Dewey]] in 1948.

During the second half of the 20th century, Delaware was a bellwether state, voting for the winner of every presidential election from [[1952 United States presidential election|1952]] through [[1996 United States presidential election|1996]]. Delaware's bellwether status came to an end when Delaware voted for [[Al Gore]] in [[2000 United States presidential election|2000]] by 13%. Subsequent elections have continued to demonstrate Delaware's current strong Democratic lean: [[John Kerry]] carried the First State by 8% in [[2004 United States presidential election|2004]]; [[Barack Obama]] carried it by 25% and by 19% in his two elections of [[2008 United States presidential election|2008]] and [[2012 United States presidential election|2012]]; and [[Hillary Clinton]] carried it by 11% as she lost the Electoral College in [[2016 United States presidential election|2016]]. In 2020, Delaware native (and Barack Obama's former vice president and running mate) Joe Biden headed the Democratic ticket; he carried his home state by just shy of 19% en route to a national 4.5% win.<ref>{{Cite news|date=November 3, 2020|title=Delaware Election Results|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/results-delaware.html}}</ref>

The dominant factor in Delaware's political shift has been the strong Democratic trend in heavily urbanized [[New Castle County, Delaware|New Castle County]], home to 55% of Delaware's population. New Castle County has not voted Republican in a presidential election since [[1988 United States presidential election|1988]], and has given Democrats over 60% of its vote in every election from 2004 on. In 1992, 2000, 2004, and 2016, the Republican presidential candidate carried both Kent and Sussex but lost by double digits each time in New Castle County, which was a large enough margin to tip the state to the Democrats. New Castle County also elects a substantial majority of the state legislature; 27 of the 41 state house districts and 14 of the 21 state senate districts are based in New Castle County.

In a 2020 study, Delaware was ranked as the 18th hardest state for citizens to vote in.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=J. Pomante II |first1=Michael |last2=Li |first2=Quan |title=Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020 |journal=Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy |date=December 15, 2020 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=503–509 |doi=10.1089/elj.2020.0666 |s2cid=225139517 |doi-access=free  |issn=1533-1296}}</ref>

===Freedom of information===
{{See also|Freedom of information in the United States#State legislation}}

Each of the 50 states of the United States has passed some form of freedom of information legislation, which provides a mechanism for the general public to request information of the government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.foiadvocates.com/records.html|title=State Public Record Laws|website=FOIAdvocates}}</ref> In 2011 Delaware passed legislation placing a 15 business day time limit on addressing freedom-of-information requests, to either produce information or an explanation of why such information would take longer than this time to produce.<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Bennett | first1 = Rep. | first2 = Sen. | last2 = Peterson | first3 = Sen. | last3 = Katz | date = January 6, 2011 | publication-date = April 15, 2011 | contribution = An Act to Amend Title 29 of the Delaware Code Relating to the Freedom of Information Act | access-date = April 22, 2011 | contribution-url = http://legis.delaware.gov/lis/lis146.nsf/vwlegislation/HB+5 | edition = online | title = Delaware Code | volume = 78 | at = 10 | id = House Bill # 5 | url = http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+5/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111002095945/http://legis.delaware.gov/lis/lis146.nsf/vwlegislation/HB+5 | archive-date = October 2, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref> A bill aimed at restricting Freedom of Information Act requests, Senate Bill 155, was discussed in committee.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://delawarelive.com/speakers-at-senate-meeting-strongly-oppose-changing-foia/ | title=Speakers at Senate meeting strongly oppose changing FOIA &#124; Delaware Live News | date=June 9, 2021 }}</ref>

===Taxation===

Tax is collected by the [[Delaware Division of Revenue]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://revenue.delaware.gov/|title=Division of Revenue—Department of Finance—State of Delaware|website=Division of Revenue—State of Delaware}}</ref>

Delaware has six different [[income tax]] brackets, ranging from 2.2% to 5.95%. The state does not assess [[sales tax]] on consumers. The state does, however, impose a tax on the gross receipts of most businesses. Business and occupational license tax rates range from 0.096% to 1.92%, depending on the category of business activity.

Delaware does not assess a state-level tax on real or personal property. Real estate is subject to county [[property tax]]es, school district property taxes, vocational school district taxes, and, if located within an incorporated area, municipal property taxes.

[[Gambling in the United States#Authorized types|Gambling]] provides significant revenue to the state. For instance, the [[Delaware Park Racetrack#Casino|casino at Delaware Park Racetrack]] provided more than $100{{spaces}}million to the state in 2010.<ref>{{cite news |title=Delaware crime: Wave of brazen attacks sounds alarm at casino |first=Chris |last=Barrish |url=http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110423/NEWS01/104230342/-1/NLETTER01/Wave-of-brazen-attacks-sounds-alarm-at-casino |location=Wilmington, DE |date=April 23, 2011 |work=Delaware Online |access-date=April 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201210192633/https://www.webcitation.org/5ygCHfM0y?url=http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110423/NEWS01/104230342/-1/NLETTER01/Wave-of-brazen-attacks-sounds-alarm-at-casino |archive-date=December 10, 2020 |at=1st page of online article archived via link provided |url-status=live }}</ref>

In June 2018, Delaware became the first U.S. state to legalize [[sports betting]] following the [[Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992#US Supreme Court decision|Supreme Court ruling to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992]] (PASPA).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bestbettingsites.uk/news/sports-betting/delaware-becomes-first-state-legalise-sports-betting.html | title=Delaware becomes the first state to legalise sports betting | access-date=June 22, 2018 | date=June 2, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622140539/https://www.bestbettingsites.uk/news/sports-betting/delaware-becomes-first-state-legalise-sports-betting.html | archive-date=June 22, 2018 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Voter registration===
{| class=wikitable
|+ Voter registration and party enrollment {{as of|2024|April|lc=y}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://elections.delaware.gov/candidates/regtotals.shtml |title=Voter Registration Totals - Delaware Department of Elections |access-date=March 3, 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119195904/https://elections.delaware.gov/reports/regtotals/2022/vrt_PP20220101.pdf |archive-date=January 19, 2022 }}</ref>
|-
! colspan = 2 | Party
! Number of voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 351,700
| style="text-align:center;"| 45.46%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 206,438
| style="text-align:center;"| 26.69%
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent politician}}
| Unaffiliated
| style="text-align:center;"| 194,729
| style="text-align:center;"| 25.17%
|-
| {{party color cell| Independent politician}}
| [[Independent Party of Delaware]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 10,665
| style="text-align:center;"| 1.38%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}}
| [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2,038
| style="text-align:center;"| 0.26%
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent politician}}
| Non-partisan
| style="text-align:center;"| 1,164
| style="text-align:center;"| 0.15%
|-
| {{party color cell| Independent politician}}
| Minor parties
| style="text-align:center;"| 6,821
| style="text-align:center;"| 
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! style="text-align:center;"| 773,555
! style="text-align:center;"| 100.00%
|}