Three major school board election resources for Delaware voters were jointly released by the Delaware Voting Rights Coalition (DVRC) and its members on April 15, 2024:
- A comprehensive voter guide document, “How to Vote in Delaware’s School Board Elections”
- Candidate responses to LWVDE's questions on the VOTE411.org online voter guide
- Candidate responses to ACLU's questions on votedelaware.org online voter guide
The organizations issues a joint press release to announce the voter guide launches.
In the press release, LWVDE's Voting & Elections Chair Jill Itzkowitz says:
Despite making up the largest body of elected officials in the country, school board elections receive little attention and suffer from extremely low voter turnout rates. Last year, a school board race was decided by just 4 votes. Our voter education efforts aim to equip Delawareans with the knowledge to talk to friends, family, and neighbors about why every vote matters in this year’s school board elections.
Per the press release, during the 2023 school board election, no school board district in Delaware saw more than a 10% voter turnout, and most remained well below 5%.
Eight out of 16 Delaware public school districts have at least one contested seat and will hold elections on May 14, 2024. As shown in the map below, the districts holding elections this year are Appoqunimink, Christina, Colonial, Delmar, Indian River (Nominating District 4 only), Lake Forest, Red Clay, and Woodbridge.
Update 4/25/2024 - due to a candidate withdrawal, Christina school district no longer has a contested school board seat and will not hold an election in 2024.
In Delaware, registration is not required to vote for school board. All citizens aged18 years or older living within the school district boundaries can vote in their local school board election.
Delaware school board members are unpaid elected officials who volunteer their time and energy to fill this hugely important role for four years per term. They are unsung community heroes, and their service impacts us all.
