Rehoboth referendums challenged

The state Attorney General's Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust is reviewing the June 27 referendums in Rehoboth Beach after they received a series of complaints about alleged voting irregularities.

Rehoboth Beach voters approved by a narrow margin a plan to borrow $52.5 million for a sewage treatment plant upgrade and new ocean discharge that will empty treated waste more than a mile offshore.

The outfall vote passed 637-606. A second question on borrowing $18 million for a new municipal complex was approved by a wider margin.

At question is who was allowed to vote, how and how many times. Rehoboth's municipal charter allows partnerships, corporations, some leaseholders and residents, along with nonresident property owners to vote in spending referendums.

Kenneth McDowell, with the Sussex County Board of Elections, said the city rented voting machines and his staff set them up and stood by to address any equipment issues. They also printed out the results.

McDowell said the state and county election offices had no jurisdiction over Rehoboth's referendum vote.

Under the charter, some of Rehoboth's business owners – those with multiple partnerships or corporations – may have been allowed multiple votes "which is foreign to us," McDowell said.

"I could see why people might be questioning it," he said.

But the city had its attorney standing by to sign off on any questions that might have come up, McDowell said.

Carl Kanefsky, a spokesman for the state Department of Justice, said his office had received a number of complaints regarding voting procedures and voter eligibility in the referendum.

Those complaints are being evaluated and will be investigated by the Office of Civil Rights and Pubic Trust, he said.

Reach Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow @MollyMurraytnj on Twitter.