What Delaware's write-in canvass actually counts, and when voters learn the names

Independent reporting for The Delaware Dispatch. Not campaign material. Status note: As of about 2:20 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, November 5, 2026, the Department of Elections Election Night Reporting page still labels results "Unofficial Results," and no official named write-in report for the 2026 General Election was found on elections.delaware.gov.

On election night, Delaware's U.S. Senate results looked tidy: two names on the ballot, two percentages that added up to 100. Chris Coons and Mike Katz filled the unofficial statewide report. Write-in names did not.

That does not mean write-in votes disappeared. In Delaware, they travel a different track. The canvass uses write-in vote reports supplied by the Department of Elections. The official 2024 write-in report provides a prior-cycle example of separately reported named totals. This piece explains that track, in plain language, with the statutes and the pages anyone can check.

I have a stake in the answer. I ran a write-in campaign for U.S. Senate. This is a disclosure of my involvement, not verification of a 2026 DOE candidate-list entry. I am not asking for a vote here, and I am not going to guess my total. When the Department of Elections posts the official write-in report, I will cite it, with the time I checked it, and leave the numbers to the record.

What election night shows

The Department of Elections posts Election Night Reporting for the November 3, 2026 General Election at elections.delaware.gov. As of this writing, that page still carries the heading Unofficial Results. The statewide data file for the same election is also labeled UNOFFICIAL RESULTS, with a report time of 3:03:18 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, and 530 of 530 districts reported.

In that unofficial file, the U.S. Senate race lists:

• Chris Coons (Democratic Party): 240,347 votes (63.57%)
• Michael "Dr. Mike" Katz (Republican Party): 137,764 votes (36.43%)

There are no named write-in totals in that unofficial statewide report. The page does not explain why named write-in totals are absent. That explanation remains unanswered here.

The unofficial results page says absentee preparation includes reviewing write-in votes. That does not make these election-night figures official or certified.

What the canvass is

Delaware does not treat election night as the last word. The formal review is called the canvass.

Under 15 Del. C. § 3402(a), the Superior Court only counts a write-in vote for a person who has declared as a write-in candidate for that office under Chapter 34. Write-in votes for other names are accounted for as "Other Write-in Votes" under § 3402(b).

Under § 3402(c), the declaration deadline is 4:30 p.m. on September 20 of the election year, with statewide declarations filed with the State Election Commissioner. Under § 3402(e), someone already on the ballot cannot also declare as a write-in candidate.

The Department of Elections lists the declared write-in candidates for 2026 at https://elections.delaware.gov/candidates/candidatelist/genl_wcddt_2026.html. This article does not describe spelling or voter-intent standards: no DOE guidance establishing those standards was located for this review.

When voters learn the names

As of about 5:22–5:25 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, November 5, 2026, I have not found a 2026 official write-in votes report on the Department of Elections website. The Election Night Reporting page still says Unofficial Results. News Desk found no official 2026 write-in report on the DOE home or results index. A guessed report URL returning an error would not rule out a report elsewhere on the site.

Delaware’s official write-in totals have not been posted yet.

I will add the official figures when the Department posts its report. Until then, I will not fill them with estimates, campaign tallies, or secondhand numbers.

For timing context only, the official 2024 write-in report is dated November 12, 2024. That date comes from file metadata, not a DOE posting announcement. It does not establish when the document first became public, and it provides no publication deadline or prediction for 2026.

This review has not established when DOE will publish the 2026 named write-in totals. The statutory canvass schedule is not a posting schedule.

What I am watching for

I am watching the Department of Elections site for the official write-in report: named totals for declared candidates, any "Other Write-in Votes" accounting the state publishes, and the timestamp on the document. I will update this piece, or publish a short follow-up, when that report appears, with the source link and the time I checked it.

I will not speculate about my own total, anyone else's write-in total, or whether the canvass will change the ballot-candidate percentages already shown unofficially. The Court publicly certifies county results after tabulating the votes under § 5701(a)(2). This article does not claim certification has occurred or that any total has changed.

How to check it yourself

1. Election Night Reporting (2026 General Election, unofficial at this check): https://elections.delaware.gov/results/enr/GE2026.html
2. Statewide results data file (unofficial at this check): https://elections.delaware.gov/results/enr/Election_StatewideResults_ID_GE2026.json
3. Department of Elections results index: https://elections.delaware.gov/results/index.html
4. Department of Elections home: https://elections.delaware.gov/
5. Canvass statute, 15 Del. C. ch. 57, including § 5701: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title15/c057/index.html
6. Write-in chapter, 15 Del. C. ch. 34: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title15/c034/index.html
7. Voting systems, including write-in counting requirements in § 5002: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title15/c050/index.html
8. 2024 official write-in report (prior-cycle example only): https://elections.delaware.gov/elections/resultsarchive/elect24/elect24_general/GE2024_Official_WriteInVotes_Statewide.pdf
9. 2024 reports page: https://elections.delaware.gov/reports/GE2024.html
10. Delaware Department of Elections — 2026 declared write-in candidate list: https://elections.delaware.gov/candidates/candidatelist/genl_wcddt_2026.html

If you spot an error, reply to the Dispatch email or use the contact on the About page. Corrections are dated and visible.

Reconciled to News Desk’s source check and independently rechecked by Web Desk at about 5:22–5:25 p.m. ET on November 5, 2026. Official-source links support the statutory and results claims. No official write-in figures are reported here, and no outcome is claimed for my race.