Dead people casting ballots

[dems_rightnow]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/wwii-vet-dies-age-93-casting-ballot-17556243#.UImsoYbAET4

I hadn't really considered this scenario, but it can't be many votes. This 93 year old WWII veteran cast his vote early, then passed away. I suppose that legally it shouldn't be counted. The article seems to indicate this, but also that nobody is going to go to any effort to look for it.

"Honolulu elections officials say Frank Tanabe's vote will be counted unless they receive his death certificate before the Nov. 6 election and they're able to find his ballot from among the tens of thousands of ballots mailed in.

This generally isn't practical, so like most cases when a voter dies after he or she casts an absentee ballot, his ballot will likely be counted.

His family knows which candidates he chose, but they've decided to keep that information private.

Barbara Tanabe said it's not important who her father voted for — it's the voting itself that makes a difference."


Anyway, just an interesting aspect of early voting. I'm glad they're going to count his vote. He paid his dues.

[blogslut]

1. He was ALIVE when he cast his vote

He was not a "dead voter". Disqualifying his vote is bullshit.

[nichomachus]

2. It should be no different

Than if a person voted in the morning and then had a heart attack and died before the polls closed. You don't discount that vote.

If the person is alive when the voting period starts and casts a legal ballot, then that ballot should be counted no matter what happens in between.

What I'm worried about is the "votes" that will be cast by those Republicans who died five years ago.

[Maeve]

3. Seriously, why shouldn't his vote count?

It was legit at the time cast and unless you can prove death changed his mind...

[OldDem2012]

4. Why in the hell wouldn't his vote be counted?? He was ALIVE when he voted!! nt.

[arely staircase]

5. uh, no that would be a live ww2 vet casting his ballot

who then died. very big diff.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

6. He voted legally during a recognized voting period.

It's a no brainer.

[No Vested Interest]

7. Voter Died

When people know that they are dying, they want to have all their affairs in order.

To Mr. Tanabe, casting his vote was part of that scenario. Apparently, he had always voted in past elections and voting in 2012 was part of doing his patriotic duty, in his eyes.

The main thing here, is that voting was part of completing his work on earth, so that he could die in peace.
Mr. Tanabe succeeded.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

8. The laws differ from state to state

And as early voting becomes more and more popular, we'll see more laws in place to address it.

[dems_rightnow]

9. I agree with everyone who says the ballot should be counted.... but

Apparently Hawaii election law says differently.

"Glenn Takahashi, Honolulu election administrator, said absentee ballots cast by voters who later die become invalid if the state Department of Health notifies elections officials of the death before Election Day. To void a ballot when that happens, officials have to be able to sort through tens of thousands of ballots to find the one in question. This is not always practical, and so the ballot is counted if it isn't."


I just thought it was an interesting aspect I had not considered, and certainly did not know the answer to.

[Swede Atlanta]

10. I can see both sides of this one.......

One view is that Nov. 6 is the official election day. The elector needs to be alive (even for a minute) on election day for his/her ballot to be considered cast in the context of the election. In this view, "early voting" is simply a means to alleviate the volume of voters on election day but that votes cast prior to election day are only considered valid if the elector is alive on election day.

Another could be that if there is a legal early voting period then, in essence, the elector is voting during the time the "polls" are open for the election and as a result the vote should count.

It might differ by state law but I suspect that in many states AGs and election officials may have to do some research to develop a cogent interpretation.