[EL] deaths after voting by mail

Sat Aug 4 06:30:13 PDT 2012

That is the "Chicago Way."  Jim

In a message dated 8/3/2012 2:15:57 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
lowenstein at law.ucla.edu writes:

I am reminded of G.K. Chesterton, who observed that some  so-called 
democrats (small "d," of course) took pride in believing that  participation in 
government should not be determined by the accident of birth,  but went further 
by insisting that participation should not be determined by  the accident 
of death.

Best,

Daniel H.  Lowenstein
Director, Center  for the Liberal Arts and Free Institutions (CLAFI)
UCLA Law School
405 Hilgard
Los Angeles, California 90095-1476
310-825-5148

________________________________
From:  law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu  
[law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Ken Mayer  [kmayer at polisci.wisc.edu]
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2012 9:59 AM
To:  'Steve Kolbert'; 'Doug Hess'
Cc: 'Election Law'
Subject: Re: [EL] deaths  after voting by mail

Short answer: not enough votes to worry about,  there’s nothing that could 
be done if there were, and even if something could  be done, it wouldn’t be 
right.  By any reasonable definition, a vote is a  vote when it is cast, no 
matter what happens to the voter  subsequently.

In Oregon, according to the Public Health division, about  2,500-2,900 
people die in a typical  
month<http://public.health.oregon.gov/BirthDeathCertificates/VitalStatistics/FinalData/Documents/10/deathmo.pdf>,  with about 98% 
of those deaths occurring in the voting age  
population<http://public.health.oregon.gov/BirthDeathCertificates/VitalStatistics/FinalData/Documents/10/deat
hage.pdf>.    Turnout as a percentage of VAP in 2008 was 63% according to 
Michael McDonald’s  United States Election  
Project<http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2008G.html>.  If we assume  that deaths over a month are evenly 
distributed, and that votes are cast  roughly evenly over the month, that gives 
an estimated approximate upper  limit  (back of the envelope calculation; 
the actual numbers will be  slightly different, but not by enough to worry 
about) of the number of votes  potentially cast by people who died before 
election day  as:

2,900*.98*.63*.5 = 895 votes

The key quantity here isn’t  this number, but the margin of victory for the 
winning candidate among these  voters.  An election would have to be pretty 
close for this to make a  difference, but let’s say these voters went 
60%-40% for a candidate in a two  candidate race.  That 20% margin reduces this 
895 votes to 179  votes.  That could make a difference in a really tight 
race, but there  aren’t many statewide races decided by this margin.

But it doesn’t  really make any difference, because for these votes to be 
rejected, you’d have  to hang on to every vote until  you got confirmation 
that the voter had  actually died, which is not workable.

This isn’t different than a voter  who casts a ballot on election day, but 
who dies (or moves to another  state)  before the results are certified.

Ken  Mayer

Kenneth R. Mayer
Professor, Department of Political  Science
Affiliate Faculty, La Follette School of Public  Affairs
University of Wisconsin - Madison
110 North Hall/1050 Bascom  Mall
Madison, WI  53706
(608) 263-2286 (voice)/ (608) 265-2663  (fax)

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu  
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Steve  Kolbert
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2012 11:09 AM
To: Doug Hess
Cc:  Election Law
Subject: Re: [EL] deaths after voting by mail

You  can find a discussion of the applicable Virginia law in Op. Va. Att'y 
Gen.  10-104 (Oct. 26, 2010), available at  h
ttp://www.oag.state.va.us/Opinions%20and%20Legal%20Resources/OPINIONS/2010opns/10-104-Lind.pdf

SUMMARY:
When  a general registrar knows an absentee voter has died prior to 
election day,  but after having voted by absentee ballot, the registrar must cancel 
that  voter's registration, and the absentee ballot should not be counted; 
but that  in those circumstances in which absentee ballots are cast prior to 
election  day in a manner by which the absentee ballot no longer can be set 
aside, the  general registrar who knows of the voter's death shall cancel 
that voter's  registration, but election officials are not otherwise required 
to perform the  impossible task of not counting the deceased voter's ballot.

Steve  Kolbert
(202)  422-2588
steve.kolbert at gmail.com<mailto:steve.kolbert at gmail.com>
@Pronounce_the_T
On  Aug 3, 2012 11:54 AM, "Doug Hess"  
<douglasrhess at gmail.com<mailto:douglasrhess at gmail.com>>  wrote:

Let's say you vote by mail and then kick the bucket before  ballots are 
counted or before election day. Assuming election officials notice  this about 
you and spot your ballot, do laws or regulations address counting  that 
ballot? I assume that if you were eligible to vote when you did, that  dieing 
before ballots are counted doesn't matter.

If an election is  entirely by mail and you can get ballots 30 days in 
advance (is that  standard?), just how many adults go six feet under in that 
period. I'm  wondering--for Friday amusement partially--if the number or 
percentage is  enough that the dead can determine an  outcome?

Doug

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