Should the dead be allowed to vote?

[Mota Boy]

Votes From the Dead to Count in Election
RALEIGH, N.C. - In what would be her last conscious act, 90-year-old Trixie Porter gripped a pen in her weak, trembling hand, checked the candidates of her choice and scrawled a squiggled signature on her absentee ballot

Within an hour, the petite woman who had been suffering from heart problems lay back in her hospital bed, closed her eyes and never woke up. Her ballot arrived at her local elections board two days later, Oct. 5 — the day she died.

"We commented that day that it probably won't count," said daughter Cheryl McConnell. "But she went to her grave not knowing any different. It counted with her."

An untold number of ballots like Porter's will indeed be counted because of the haphazard and cumbersome process of enforcing laws in many states to weed out the absentee votes of those who die by Election Day.

With millions of voters taking advantage of new, in-person early voting in at least 30 states this year, it's even more certain that such "ghost" votes will be counted because, in most cases, those ballots are impossible to retrieve. Besides, it could be days or weeks after the election before local officials get word someone has died.

Death has no political allegiance. But the thousands of lawyers from both parties who will be descending on battleground states Tuesday looking for reasons to pick up a few votes could find the phenomenon of dead voters more than just an Election Day curiosity.

In Florida alone, more than 1.8 million people, many of them elderly and sick retirees, have cast absentee ballots or voted early in person in the past two weeks.

How many of those voters won't be alive on Election Day? Considering that an average of 455 voting-age people die in Florida every day, and that the 2000 presidential election was decided by a mere 537 votes, dead votes that slip through the cracks could become a meaningful bloc...


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041031/ap_on_el_ge/dead_voters


Should dead people be allowed to vote? On one hand, they won't be affected by the next administration. On the other hand, it was a concious decision, in some cases a dying wish. Either way, it's a creepy thing to consider. I honestly have never thought about this and have absolutely no idea where I stand on the issue. I don't imagine myself having particularly strong opinions one way or the other - at this point, anyway - but this is a matter that very well could determine the outcome of the election. What are your thoughts?

[RXP]

Yes due to admin hassle. There's already enough of it. Otherwise you'd have to find out who died. So if your alive by the time you cast your ballot it counts.

[Little_Miss_1565]

I agree with RXP

[Mota Boy]

But how do you guard against voter fraud? What's to prevent me from voting for multiple deceased people? The best way to prevent that is to purge the dead from a list of eligible voters.

[Izie]

On one hand, they won't be affected by the next administration.


It's generally known Bush has a direct link to God.

anyway this sorta reminds me of the whole slavepower thing, but yeah they should be counted.

[aavikko]

Yes due to admin hassle. There's already enough of it. Otherwise you'd have to find out who died. So if your alive by the time you cast your ballot it counts. I agree too with RXP

[Little_Miss_1565]

But how do you guard against voter fraud? What's to prevent me from voting for multiple deceased people? The best way to prevent that is to purge the dead from a list of eligible voters.

Well, in order to receive the ballot in the first place you have to present credentials that you can vote in that precinct. If you satisfactorily complete the ballot, send it in, and then drop dead, I see no reason why that ballot should not count, especially if dead people can run for office (see also: John Ashcroft's loss in the race for a congressional seat to a dead man).

But if you die before you can vote, or before you have filled out your absentee ballot, it should not count.

[Moose]

well, a lot of dead people already vote, its known as voter fraud, so what the fuck, make it part of the make a wish foundation.

[greencows12]

Dead people can't vote, but zombies can.

[Fallen.]

on a moral ground i think the votes should stand, but on a realistic level its a fairly dodgy thing, easily open to fraud.

maybe a policy where those who are terminally ill or extremely old either dont vote or vote in a different way? but then it would be up to doctors to decide who votes or not.......

it might seem stupid but i think the issue should be sorted, it can make a huge impact.