# If you vote early and die before the election...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 30, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041 "2004-10-30T17:27:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/1 "2004-10-30T17:27:38Z")
…is your vote still valid?
Just curious.
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### Author:  [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/2 "2004-10-30T17:59:53Z")
My WAG is yes – it doesn’t really seem any different than if you vote in the morning and then die before the votes are tallied. Besides how would the people running the election know that you’d died?
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/3 "2004-10-30T18:12:32Z")
I don’t see why not. The vote was legally cast, it should count. Heck, under some Democratic regimes in Chicago, some people have voted **after** they died. 😃
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/4 "2004-10-30T18:18:50Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#):
>
> I don’t see why not. The vote was legally cast, it should count. Heck, under some Democratic regimes in Chicago, some people have voted **after** they died. 😃
> [@Simpsons episode 2F02](#):
>
> Lis! Lis, come here, I found him! I found Edgar Neubauer.
> [points at a tombstone: “Edgar Neubauer: Beloved husband and old
> grouch (1831-1909)”]
> Oh my God…the dead have risen and they’re voting Republican.
😃
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### Author:  [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/5 "2004-10-30T18:26:48Z")
If present trends continue
Before the homicide detective will be able to ask a dying victim if he knows who shot him, the guy with a political button will want him to cast a ballot for next years election. And the network exit poll will have a new meaning.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/6 "2004-10-30T18:51:18Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#):
>
> I don’t see why not. The vote was legally cast, it should count.
I just thought you might need to be an eligible voter on Nov.2 for the vote to count. If you turn 18 on Nov. 2 you can still vote early, right?
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/7 "2004-10-30T19:17:03Z")
> [@scr4](#):
>
> I just thought you might need to be an eligible voter on Nov.2 for the vote to count. If you turn 18 on Nov. 2 you can still vote early, right?
It depends on the laws of the state. The Constitution is a floor, not a ceiling. That’s why you had women granted the vote in several states long before 1920. I believe most states have the law so that if you are 18 on or before the general election, you can also vote in the primaries. Along those lines, I don’t see why being able to vote early or getting an absentee ballot would be any different.
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### Author:  [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/8 "2004-10-30T20:28:02Z")
I recall a few years ago where this happened, and it affected the recount in some small town. Not sure why the ballot was segregated at this time, but maybe it had been misplaced, or maybe they knew she had died before the initial count, so put her absentee ballot aside, until it became an issue in the recount.
IIRC, the ruling was that her vote was invalid, since she was not eligible to vote on election day. But I suspect this will vary from state to state. I wish I could find a cite.
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### Author:  [@Hadrian0117](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hadrian0117)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/9 "2004-10-31T19:28:58Z")
I found an [article](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041031/ap_on_el_ge/dead_voters) about this.
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### Author:  [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/10 "2004-10-31T20:29:23Z")
I’m sure this will generate a lawsuit, stemming from a “seperate but NOT equal treatment” contention.
Example “A”: Jane Doe is 94 yrs old and goes to vote in Florida (where they have early voting). After casting her ballot, on the way home, she drops dead. “Concerned” neighbors inform the county election board that she’s now dead and no longer eligible to vote. Because she voted via a regular ballot, there’s no way to retrieve _HER_ ballot and invalidate her votes. Thus, her votes stand.
Example “B”: John Smith is 22 and serving in Iraq. He casts his ballot via absentee as he will not be in his home state of Florida when election day rolls around. A few days later, he’s killed in a roadside bomb attack. “Concerned” members of his company inform the county election board that he’s now dead and no longer eligible to vote. The county election board pulls his absentee ballot and his votes do not count.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/11 "2004-10-31T21:56:39Z")
[Another link that says these votes will count.](http://cnn.aimtoday.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20041031/1351385609.htm)
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### Author:  [@lynxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynxie)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/12 "2004-11-01T01:22:01Z")
Um, did’nt a dead guy get _elected_ somewhere in the states recently? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@me\_paso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/me_paso)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/13 "2004-11-01T03:24:00Z")
It merely depends if it is caught or not. If you vote absintee and die and it’s caught, it will not be counted. But it no one catches it, then it will be counted on the Nov. 2 election.
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### Author:  [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/14 "2004-11-01T03:29:31Z")
> [@scr4](#):
>
> …is your vote still valid?
>
> Just curious.
If you spend five seconds reflecting on it, you would know the answer.
hint: they don’t know which vote is yours.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/15 "2004-11-01T03:39:04Z")
Why is this even an issue? How is it significantly different from when voters die after the election but before the president-elect takes office?
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/16 "2004-11-01T04:03:42Z")
> [@Revtim](#):
>
> Why is this even an issue? How is it significantly different from when voters die after the election but before the president-elect takes office?
Surely it’s quite different. If you cast a vote and then die before the election result is finalised, your vote could possibly be discarded (depending on the relevant electoral laws and whether or not electoral officials can actually identify your vote). Your vote would thus have no effect on the outcome. If you die after the election result has been finalised, then your vote was taken into account in deciding the result.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-vote-early-and-die-before-the-election/272041/17 "2004-11-01T04:13:31Z")
> [@me paso](#):
>
> It merely depends if it is caught or not.
Doesn’t sound that way so far.