# Is it selfish to vote on your death bed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 22, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509 "2012-10-22T12:19:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/21 "2012-10-22T19:00:56Z")
I think that it’s a good thing to do and the opposite of selfish. The Nation is probably well served by the person’s wisdom. How can taking a few moments of your last precious time to do something that won’t benefit you in the least be selfish? I voted in the student body elections at my university in my last semester because I wanted to leave the place better (in my opinion) than how it was when I left. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/22 "2012-10-22T19:22:51Z")
I like to think I am voting for future generations when I vote as opposed to the present. Little good that does I admit, as they change everything whenever they feel like it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/23 "2012-10-22T19:26:21Z")
Yllaria: > [@](#): > > Unless you’re saying, “MWA HA HA! Let’s see them live with THIS!” then not particularly selfish. That happened in a Night Court episode - a corpse was brought into the morgue with a suicide note that said he voted for Dan Fielding as a last gesture of hatred to the world he didn’t want to live in anymore. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/24 "2012-10-22T22:26:51Z")
It’s not selfish to vote near death. Anyone of us could be hit by a bus tomorrow. Well, I can’t because NH scarcely believes in public transportation, but some of you could be. What was I saying? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/25 "2012-10-23T02:58:00Z")
> [@qualityleashdog](#): > > There is usually no certainty that one would expire before the election. The person on the deathbed may be voting this week, but the person that walks in and votes on election day may die in a wreck on the way home. A group of 80-somethings in decent health may swing votes for a particular candidate and have good odds that they won’t be around to see the candidate finish the term or may not even be around for the start of the term, but they still vote. This. I’m thinking of that world’s oldest woman in France, Jeanne Calment, the one who lived to age 122. I recall reading that before she turned 100, maybe before she turned 90 even, she had given the option to her flat to some guy who paid her a regular fee to keep the option, figuring she’d be dead before too long and he could take the place over. He ended up paying more than the place was worth! ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/26 "2012-10-23T12:06:03Z")
No, it’s not selfish. It’s your right as a citizen. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/27 "2012-10-23T16:30:42Z")
[Photo of Hawaii WWII veteran voting captures hearts across America](http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Photo-of-Hawaii-WWII-veteran-voting-captures/G9la1qDpWECLn_wys_FeAA.cspx) > [@](#): > > HONOLULU (AP) — A photograph of a 93-year-old World War II veteran casting what will likely be his last ballot has captured the hearts of tens of thousands of Internet users. > > The photo shows Frank Tanabe lying in a hospital bed at home as his daughter Barbara Tanabe helps him fill out his absentee ballot. > > \ > > Doctors diagnosed Tanabe with an inoperable cancer tumor in his liver two months ago. He’s been in hospice care for the past three weeks at his daughter’s home. His condition has been deteriorating… > > \ > > 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. > > A similar situation arose in Honolulu four years ago when President Barack Obama’s grandmother died two nights before the election but after she mailed her absentee ballot. Hawaii counted her vote anyway because the Health Department didn’t receive her certificate of death before the election. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/28 "2012-10-24T02:32:59Z")
I don’t think it’s selfish because, having kids (and someday maybe grandkids), I would want to try to make the world a better place for them. Even if it’s just one vote. On my deathbed. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/29 "2012-10-24T08:54:01Z")
Only if you’re one of the candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/30 "2012-10-24T15:01:29Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > This. I’m thinking of that world’s oldest woman in France, Jeanne Calment, the one who lived to age 122. I recall reading that before she turned 100, maybe before she turned 90 even, she had given the option to her flat to some guy who paid her a regular fee to keep the option, figuring she’d be dead before too long and he could take the place over. He ended up paying more than the place was worth! IIRC, she outlived him. ---
**Author:** ![dimmy\_derko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/43a26b/32.png) [@dimmy\_derko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimmy_derko)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/31 "2012-10-24T15:10:33Z")
Voting on your deathbed isn’t selfish; voting based just on how it is going to affect you personally, is. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/32 "2012-10-24T15:13:40Z")
It may or may not be selfish. It depends on your reason and motivation for voting, your beliefs and or misbelieves about voting. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/33 "2012-10-24T15:33:33Z")
I vote on a Tempur-Pedic style bed. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/34 "2012-10-24T15:51:27Z")
If I am not mistaken, back in the days of Mayor Daley in Chicago, you could vote even after you were dead. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/35 "2012-10-24T19:19:18Z")
The last time my grandmother left her house was to vote againd George W. Bush. She died the day afterthanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![Vita\_Beata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@Vita\_Beata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vita_Beata)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/36 "2012-10-24T20:03:34Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > If I am not mistaken, back in the days of Mayor Daley in Chicago, you could vote even after you were dead. I was going to post this also .. vote in this life and the Hereafter. Then I was going to duck and run away. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/37 "2012-10-25T03:22:33Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > This. I’m thinking of that world’s oldest woman in France, Jeanne Calment, the one who lived to age 122. I recall reading that before she turned 100, maybe before she turned 90 even, she had given the option to her flat to some guy who paid her a regular fee to keep the option, figuring she’d be dead before too long and he could take the place over. He ended up paying more than the place was worth! > [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > IIRC, she outlived him. That sounds familiar. It’s one reason I never bet, not even on what appears to be a sure thing. > [@DMark](#): > > If I am not mistaken, back in the days of Mayor Daley in Chicago, you could vote even after you were dead. I’ve read that lots of dead Texans voted for LBJ in his early career. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/38 "2012-10-25T03:44:54Z")
On a universal scale our lives are briefer than a lightning flash. So, perhaps it selfish to vote at all, ever. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/39 "2012-10-25T04:21:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Frank Tanabe, the 93-year-old World War II veteran who served his country one last time by voting from his hospital bed, died Wednesday morning. It’s the one thing that every US citizen over 18 can do to serve their country. It’s a right people fight, emigrate and die attempting to possess. Not selfish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509.md?page=1)