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A Delaware judge has ruled in favor of allowing a township in the state to continue counting corporations and other nonliving entities as legitimate voters in its municipal elections.

Since 1953, the beachside township of Fenwick Island has allowed voting by nonresident property owners. In 2008, the township amended its charter to allow corporations and trusts in the state, with properties in the town, to cast votes as well.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Delaware sued the township, alleging that its voting system diluted the voting rights of actual living voters.

“With over 2 million business entities incorporated in Delaware — roughly double the amount of actual people living in the state — the people of Delaware risk having their voices drowned out when towns like Fenwick Island allow corporate voting,” the ACLU of Delaware said in its statement announcing its lawsuit.

However, earlier this week, Delaware Superior Court Judge Craig A. Karsnitz dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the township had the right under the state constitution to allow its unusual approach to voting.

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Karsnitz appeared sympathetic to the lawsuit, noting that “visions of faceless large corporations or even HAL controlling a small town are frightening and the stuff of science fiction.” But ultimately, he ruled that “trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations are expressly recognized as ‘persons’ in........

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