Like any invasive plant that will destroy a garden if not ripped out, corporate “rights” continue to quickly spread throughout our culture and institutions causing massive democratic damage.  

The latest example would give corporate entities the "right to vote" in Seaford, Delaware. The sacred principle of “one person, one vote” would become “one person/entity/one vote” if a state law is enacted permitting the “CITY'S ABILITY TO AUTHORIZE ARTIFICIAL ENTITIES, LIMITED LIABILITY CORPORATIONS' PARTNERSHIPS AND TRUSTS TO VOTE IN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS HELD IN SEAFORD.”

Every artificial entity in Seaford would be able to cast one vote if the law passes. Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) are structured, in part, to shield the identity of their owners. This means a person living in another state or another country could cast a vote representing the LLC in Seaford in its local elections.

This law already exists in two tiny Delaware communities. Seaford is significantly larger. 

Corporate power and property rights are deeply ingrained in Delaware. President Biden calls Delaware “the corporate state” due to its business-friendly laws over the last century. More than 60% of the largest 500 corporations in the U.S are incorporated there. “General Motors could buy Delaware, if DuPont were willing to sell it,” Ralph Nader once said. The state is also one of a few that allows out of state property owners to vote in certain elections. 

What’s the take-a-way of our legal system regarding voting and “personhood” when many states are working overtime to reduce the voting rights of flesh and blood human persons while one state (and setting a precedent if successful) is working to expand the voting rights of “artificial entities,” including corporations? It's we live in a corporate culture and legal system that places the rights of “corporate entities” above the rights of living human beings and the right to ensure a livable world.

The good news is that the pushback against all corporate power and rights – including corporate “voting rights” – exists, even in Delaware. When the community of Rehoboth attempted to extend nonresident property owners voting rights in local elections to LLCs in 2017, organizing from local human residents forced the Mayor to withdraw the proposal. 

Following a 2018 referendum election in Newark, the state’s third-biggest city, when a property manager cast 31 separate votes, one for each of the LLCs their company owned, an organized local backlash forced the city to call on the state legislature to amend the city charter to abolish the ability or corporations and LLCs to vote in referendums, which the state legislature granted. 

There is now resistance against the Delaware state law that would grant corporate voting rights in Seaford.

While Delaware may be “the corporate state,” the 49 others are under immense corporate pressure to shield and serve corporate interests.  

However, if successful opposition against corporate rule can happen in Delaware, it can happen anywhere!

We can never, ever “normalize” or accept corporate constitutional rights as inevitable or irreversible. It’s been strategically planned and implemented for more than a century. 

Move to Amend is strategically planning and working to implement ending all corporate constitutional rights and the doctrine that money is free speech by passing the We the People Amendment, HJR54 – now up to 54 co-sponsors. 

• To shield ourselves, our communities and the natural world from the harms of unaccountable corporate actions.
• And to serve those who come after us to do all we can to create a true political system of self-determination.

Thank you for being a part of this democratic movement!