Corporations, partnerships, trusts, limited liability companies, and other “artificial entities” have the right to vote in Delaware elections under some circumstances, a judge said in a novel ruling Tuesday.
Delaware is one of the most popular locations for shell corporations, because the state doesn’t require public ownership disclosure. If you want to hide behind a shell corporation or create a shady holding company, Delaware is where your new company will be based.
On paper, corporations in Delaware literally outnumber humans 2 to 1. So that means those shady faceless shell corporations could easily take control of local elections. And local elections tend to have the most direct day-to-day impact on residents’ lives. So this could very easily spiral into shell corporations making local residents’ lives hell. This is quickly approaching “local residents aren’t allowed to cook or shower during the day, because Nestle was allowed to spin up five thousand shell corporations to sway local elections and buy out local water rights” levels of dystopia.
Important to note that this is the case in this one town specifically because the town charter allows property owners to vote. As of right now this only applies to a few cities in the state. It’s all in the article.
I don’t know what goes into state law surrounding town charters so that may not be easy to change. Town ordinances are easier to pass, but they may not have as much power in court.
I wouldn’t expect it to spiral just because this ruling is very specific, but honestly who knows these days things are weird
Delaware is one of the most popular locations for shell corporations, because the state doesn’t require public ownership disclosure. If you want to hide behind a shell corporation or create a shady holding company, Delaware is where your new company will be based.
On paper, corporations in Delaware literally outnumber humans 2 to 1. So that means those shady faceless shell corporations could easily take control of local elections. And local elections tend to have the most direct day-to-day impact on residents’ lives. So this could very easily spiral into shell corporations making local residents’ lives hell. This is quickly approaching “local residents aren’t allowed to cook or shower during the day, because Nestle was allowed to spin up five thousand shell corporations to sway local elections and buy out local water rights” levels of dystopia.
Important to note that this is the case in this one town specifically because the town charter allows property owners to vote. As of right now this only applies to a few cities in the state. It’s all in the article.
I don’t know what goes into state law surrounding town charters so that may not be easy to change. Town ordinances are easier to pass, but they may not have as much power in court.
I wouldn’t expect it to spiral just because this ruling is very specific, but honestly who knows these days things are weird