# Dead Woman Wins County Commissioner's Race

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-woman-wins-county-commissioners-race/379580>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 8, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-woman-wins-county-commissioners-race/379580 "2006-11-08T17:55:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-woman-wins-county-commissioners-race/379580/1 "2006-11-08T17:55:33Z")

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[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15622299/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15622299/)

> [@](#):
>
> PIERRE, S.D. - A woman who died two months ago won a county commissioner’s race in Jerauld County on Tuesday.
> 
> Democrat Marie Steichen, of Woonsocket, got 100 votes, defeating incumbent Republican Merlin Feistner, of Woonsocket, who had 64 votes.

Man, how bad does it suck to be that guy? Not only do you lose but you lose to a dead person.

This line really cracked me up though:

> [@](#):
>
> Peterson (state auditor) said voters knew Steichen had died.

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**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-woman-wins-county-commissioners-race/379580/2 "2006-11-08T18:00:56Z")

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Years back, Missourians elected a dead guy (Mel Carnahan) over a living John Ashcroft, in a Congressional race.

And, yeah, we knew he was dead. The corpse was a far better alternative to Ashcroft.

… in the end, we got Mel’s wife, Jean Carnahan, who wasn’t too spectacular (although better than Ashcroft).

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-woman-wins-county-commissioners-race/379580/3 "2006-11-08T18:10:09Z")

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Plus, you freed up Ashcroft to do Bush’s bidding. Er, Cheney’s. Whatever.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-woman-wins-county-commissioners-race/379580/4 "2006-11-08T18:19:57Z")

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Same thing happened with our Town Supervisor a decade or so ago. It usually occurs when a popular candidate dies when it’s too late to get him or her off the ballot.

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**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-woman-wins-county-commissioners-race/379580/5 "2006-11-08T18:25:49Z")

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The alternative would be to postpone the election when one of the candidates dies, and get fresh nominations. (And that is indeed what happens in some other countries). But, given that a dead candidate can’t be replaced, if you support the dead candidate’s party, you really have no other choice.