WILMINGTON, DEL., May 26 (Reuters) - A judge in Delaware, where many big U.S. companies are incorporated, ruled ‌on Tuesday that a small town that allows corporations to vote in municipal elections was not violating the state’s constitution.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Craig Karsnitz said the beach town of Fenwick Island was not diluting human votes by allowing companies ​and other legal entities that own property to cast votes in municipal elections.

The American Civil Liberties Union ​of Delaware sued the town, arguing it violated the elections clause of the state ⁠constitution. The group sought a court order blocking Fenwick Island from counting votes by “non-human artificial entities” in future elections.

The ​group said entities make up about 12% of registered voters in the town.

A lawyer for the organization did ​not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The town’s mayor, Natalie Magdeburger, did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told Reuters in March that the city believes “a property owner who pays taxes and is subject to our ordinances should ​have a say in who represents them on our Town Council.”

Nonresident voting in local elections has been permitted ​in Fenwick Island since it was incorporated in 1953, according to the court ruling. In 2008, Delaware’s General Assembly amended ‌the charter ⁠to allow non-resident voting by artificial entities, including corporations, partnerships, trusts and limited liability companies, which must be chartered in Delaware.

Several other towns in Delaware allow companies and other legal entities to vote in local elections if they own property in the municipality.

Karsnitz ruled on Tuesday that the town’s charter did not violate the ​state’s constitution’s elections clause, which ​says, “All elections shall be ⁠free and equal.”

The judge said the clause has been understood by courts to mean free of fraud and noted there were no allegations of racial or other ​kinds of discrimination.

Karsnitz said he appreciated that the ACLU of Delaware might disagree with ​corporate voting. “Visions ⁠of faceless large corporations or even HAL controlling a small town are frightening and the stuff of science fiction,” he wrote, referring to the computer at the center of the film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” “However, plaintiff has not demonstrated ⁠that this ​policy violates the principle of one person/entity/one vote.”

Delaware has far more ​corporations chartered in the state than residents, and despite recent movement by some companies to move their state of incorporation elsewhere, it ​remains the legal home to most publicly traded companies.