# Vote by Mail...Die Before Election Day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 6, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965 "2020-09-06T20:26:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [September 8, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/21 "2020-09-08T17:41:01Z")
IIRC a relative of Barack Obama voted via absentee after sending the ballot in and before election day. Hawaiian official considered it an official vote since she was alive when she mailed it in. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/22 "2020-09-08T17:46:46Z")
THis is what I was going to say. Besides, it’s the vote itself that matters, not whether the person lives to see the result. It’s like paying taxes: once you’ve sent the check, the government isn’t going to send it back if they discover you’re dead on April 16th. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/23 "2020-09-08T18:10:33Z")
At midnight on election day they have to stop the collection of all votes and start the process of determining if anyone who voted has died since casting their vote. Once that process completes they have to start the process of determining if anyone who voted has died during the time they were determining if anyone who voted has died since casting their vote. Once that process completes they have to start the process of determining if anyone who voted has died during the time… ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/24 "2020-09-08T19:48:39Z")
**TriPolar** : Again, a reduction ad absurdum is not a legitimate rebuttal to a general principle. The county bureau of records _could_ coordinate death certificates with the Registrar of Voters, without going to the preposterous level you describe. The question has been answered: this isn’t actually done. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/25 "2020-09-08T20:51:11Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > At midnight on election day they have to stop the collection of all votes and start the process of determining if anyone who voted has died since casting their vote. Once that process completes they have to start the process of determining if anyone who voted has died during the time they were determining if anyone who voted has died since casting their vote. Once that process completes they have to start the process of determining if anyone who voted has died during the time… This is one of Zeno’s Paradoxes, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/26 "2020-09-09T03:24:26Z")
Don’t give them ideas… ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/27 "2020-09-09T11:38:53Z")
Jimmy Carter said some towns in Georgia allowed widows to vote twice , 2nd vote was for dead husband. He put a stop to that ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/28 "2020-09-09T11:44:20Z")
[**It varies from state to state.**](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/exkp5e/what-happens-if-you-vote-and-die-before-election-day) > The answer depends mostly on where the voter is registered, because American election laws and procedures are for the most part determined by the individual states, even in elections for federal office. In New York, for example, [an absentee ballot can be challenged](https://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/download/law/2016NYElectionLaw.pdf) on the grounds that the voter died before Election Day (in-person early voting is not available in New York). Minnesota, which has both early voting and absentee voting, allows for a challenge in both cases if proof is presented to an election judge that a voter died [before 7 AM on Election Day.](http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/issinfo/AbsenteeVoting.pdf) > > > But [most states do count](http://www.ncsl.org/Documents/Elections/The_Canvass_October_2015_63.pdf) the votes of the recently deceased, according to the bi-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), an NGO that tracks US state election laws. In the case of Florida, [state law](http://law.justia.com/codes/florida/2015/title-ix/chapter-101/section-101.68/) spells it out clearly: “The ballot of an elector who casts an absentee ballot shall be counted even if the elector dies on or before Election Day.” ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/29 "2020-09-12T00:17:27Z")
The Lawrence County Democratic Party is insuring the OP hypothetical will not happen: [The Green Party’s presidential candidate can stay on the Pa. ballot, judge says, but his running mate gets the boot](https://www.inquirer.com/politics/clout/green-party-howie-hawkins-pennsylvania-ballot-challenge-20200910.html) > [@](#): > > **Larry Otter** , an attorney for the Green Party, said the Democratic players in the legal case filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court on Thursday. Today we got, in the mail, a suprisingly sensible note from the U.S. Postal Service suggesting that we mail in our ballot early. But because our ballots haven’t been printed yet (mailing out was supposed to be this coming Monday), that post card was worthless. Hardly anyone was gong to vote Green in swing states, both because of anti-Trump sentiment and because, I think, their ticket is weaker than the last one. Getting mail ballots out and back early is much more important. What a Democratic own-goal! In case you are thinking about dropping off your ballot at a Pennsylvania lock box shortly before election day, think again. The GOP says that there is no provision in law for those boxes and is in court trying to get anything you put in one invalidated. There is a similar Green Party access challenge delaying Wisconsin ballot printing ☹ ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/30 "2020-09-12T14:47:08Z")
In 2008, Obama’s grandmother voted for him by mail, but then died before Election Day. Some conservatives’ first reaction was to say that they had better make sure her vote doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965/31 "2020-11-11T20:43:19Z")
More on dead voters (and how it’s not really an issue this year in the presidential election): > **[Can dead people vote? Yahoo News explains](https://www.aol.com/did-dead-people-vote-in-the-election-172839683.html)** > > With President Trump refusing to concede, there is a growing chorus of Republican voices spreading a ghoulish conspiracy theory: that the dead may have helped elect Joe Biden the 46th president of the United States. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-by-mail-die-before-election-day/919965.md?page=1)