Delaware Code

15 Del. C. § 4934 (2026)

Challengers; appointment and powers

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section DE-DELCdelcode.delaware.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) Each of the political parties, acting through their respective county committees, may appoint and accredit some suitable person as a challenger. One challenger from any political party which is represented by a candidate in that district may be present inside the polling place and shall be permitted to observe the conduct of the election and all the election records. The challengers may be changed and their places filled in like manner during the day.

(b) The challengers shall be peace officers with the same powers preserving the peace as election officers and the challengers shall be protected in the discharge of their duty by the election officers; provided, however, the challengers shall not create any disturbance or obstruction and shall not unreasonably prolong any challenge or inquiry. The inspector and judges shall each have the duty to caution the challengers concerning the foregoing and, if the challenger persists, that challenger may be ejected by a majority vote of the judges and the inspector. Provided, further, that nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prevent a substitution of another challenger for one who has been ejected.

(c) If a challenger is ejected as provided in subsection (b) of this section and the inspector or judges who voted for such ejection wilfully voted for ejection without cause, each such inspector or judge so voting shall be deemed to have knowingly and wilfully violated that inspector’s or judge’s official duty.

19 Del. Laws, c. 37, §  219 Del. Laws, c. 39, §  1420 Del. Laws, c. 396, §  327 Del. Laws, c. 65, §  2;  Code 1915, §  1740;  Code 1935, §  1829;  15 Del. C. 1953, §  4934;  57 Del. Laws, c. 181, §  5470 Del. Laws, c. 186, §  1
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 1971–1975 · leading case: King v. Willis, 333 F. Supp. 670 (D. Del. 1971).
King v. Willis, 333 F. Supp. 670 (D. Del. 1971). “§ 4915, may appoint poll watchers, 15 Del.C. § 4934, and special officers at polling places, 15 Del.”
Chandler v. Workman, 348 A.2d 185 (Del. Super. Ct. 1975). “15 Del.C. § 4934. The candidates thus have the same opportunity to discover prior recorded irregularities in absentee ballots as they have with respect to other voters.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.