Delaware Supreme Court justices heard arguments in the case earlier this month.

Former judge and chair of the Delaware Republican Party Jane Brady argued the case on behalf of Hocker and the elections inspector. She said the state’s constitution specifies only one day that the election can be held, making early voting unconstitutional. She also argued that the language in the constitution requires voters to apply for an absentee ballot for each election.

“We claim that the statutes on their face are unconstitutional. They don’t comply with the language in the constitution,” she said. “Clearly, the drafters intended to address two issues: the time of the election and the manner of the election.”

Former U.S. Solicitor Donald Verrilli, representing the state, countered by arguing that both permanent absentee and early voting are employed in many other states across the U.S. and are consistent with Delaware’s Constitution and within the power of lawmakers to enact.

“Article Five, Section One [of the state constitution] provides an express delegation to the General Assembly to prescribe the means, methods and instruments of election to further a whole set of important goals,” he said. “That seems to me to be a structural indication that the Legislature has broad power here to set the means and methods of elections.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

UPPER CHICHESTER, Pennsylvania (WPVI) — Upper Chichester police hope the public can help them identify two people they believe targeted a man for bank fraud in Delaware County. There’s also concern there could be other victims.

On June 4, around 12:30 p.m., police say the pair followed the man out of the Giant in Aston and approached him in the parking lot.

One suspect claimed he dropped a $20 bill while the other was recording the interaction.

Police say the victim pulled out and opened his wallet and said the money wasn’t his. In the process, cards fell to the ground and the man’s personal information was possibly caught on video.

A short time later, thousands of dollars were swiped from the man’s bank account, according to police.

“It’s horrible, there’s all kinds of things that are happening all different kinds of scams that are going around and people just need to be really, really careful,” said Jackie Kane of Aston Township, who was walking her dog near the Village Green Shopping Center.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, in the first quarter of this year, more than 30,000 cases of bank fraud have been reported nationwide. The tri-state ranked 8th overall for fraud, and people 70 to 79 were the most targeted.

“They’re too trustworthy too, older people,” said Cindy Robertson, of Ridley Park, who was shopping nearby.

“They should be careful, especially if they’re by themselves and they don’t have somebody with them.”

Residents say it’s important to be aware of your surroundings and they’re also thankful the only injury in this case was financial.

“It’s frustrating, it’s frustrating people do that kind of stuff. That guy worked for whatever he has his whole life and somebody gonna steal it, that is not a good thing to do,” said Dave Bonavita of Upper Chichester.

DOVER — The Delaware Senate voted Tuesday to create a committee to review how public schools are funded.

The current formula used in the First State is more than 70 years old and focuses on school censuses and not what each student needs, according to the sponsor of Senate Concurrent Resolution 201, Sen. Laura Sturgeon, D-Woodbrook.

Her measure would develop a group of legislators, educators, community leaders and other advocates to research how educational facilities receive funding and make recommendations. It would be called the “Public Education Funding Commission.”

Sen. Sturgeon, also the chair of the Senate Education Committee, hopes the initiative will drive reform.

“In my 25 years as a public school teacher, I saw firsthand how the incredibly complex and inequitable system that Delaware uses to fund public education is failing to meet the needs of students and contributing to widespread burnout among educators,” she said.

“Over the last five years, the courts, independent researchers and community members have all weighed in and consistently confirmed what our public educators have been telling us for decades,” she continued. “The time has come for us to stop kicking this can down the road and start working on real systemic reforms that will improve Delaware’s schools.

“The Public Education Funding Commission will do that by bringing advocates and experts together to develop a multiyear plan that the legislature and Delaware’s next governor can follow to bring about the transformative changes that we all agree will be needed in the years ahead.”

The current funding formula is based on enrollment and on how much money is needed to provide education to a “unit” made up of a set number of students, with little regard to the level of need among the children who make up that population.

The state and federal governments provide about 70% of the funding, while the rest is generated through district-level property taxes set by voters during referendums and collected by the counties.

SCR 201 stems from legal action over the last six years. In 2018, the Delaware NAACP, Delawareans for Educational Opportunity and others filed a lawsuit arguing that, by ignoring individual student need and local funding capacity, the state’s public school fiscal system is unfair to the disadvantaged and violates the state constitution.

In 2020, Carney administration officials settled the lawsuit, by agreeing to permanently allocate additional state funding based on the number of low-income and multilingual learners at a given school and expand special education funding in kindergarten through third grade, among other changes.

Part of the settlement created an independent assessment of the education funding system, which was completed in 2023. That review, according to Sen. Sturgeon, declared that the settlement did not go far enough to address students’ needs.

Therefore, the proposed Public Education Funding Commission would be composed of 31 members, including legislators, cabinet secretaries, parents, educators, principals, district administrators and advocates.

If now passed by the House of Representatives, SCR 201 would require the commission to hold its first meeting no later than Oct. 1 and issue its first set of recommendations within a year, so they could be considered in the governor’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2027.

“During the last several years, we have passed numerous measures and have committed meaningful investments to support students of all ages and abilities. While these have been critical steps, the fundamental issue lies in how we fund public education in our state,” said the resolution’s co-sponsor, Rep. Kim Williams, D-Newport, who also co-chairs the Joint Finance Committee.

“The Public Education Funding Commission will help us create a more equitable system that truly meets the needs of all students and educators. I commend Sen. Sturgeon and all the stakeholders for working on this issue and look forward to the work of the commission.”

The resolution is now awaiting consideration in the House.