Something to ponder about absentee & early voting

hottytoddy · #1 11-02-2004, 08:16 PM

I was reading this article the other day about people who vote by absentee or people who vote early. They were saying...What if someone did this and then died before the election. Should their vote count? It was kinda interesting. What do y'all think?

thetalady · #2 11-03-2004, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hottytoddy
I was reading this article the other day about people who vote by absentee or people who vote early. They were saying...What if someone did this and then died before the election. Should their vote count? It was kinda interesting. What do y'all think?

NO NO NO NO NO! Makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

Let's not give the lawyers anything else to fight about

qteasied · #3 11-03-2004, 03:20 AM

I don't care what the hell they do about dead people or their votes. They should be talking about how the living got screwed over. Fix the machines and count the ballots right. It doesn't even matter. I wish everybody who wants to vote has the chance, even if they died right after they walked out the polling office. But not in America. We're going to have to live with four MORE years of BUllSHit no matter who the hell voted for who.

CutiePie2000 · #4 11-03-2004, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hottytoddy
I was reading this article the other day about people who vote by absentee or people who vote early. They were saying...What if someone did this and then died before the election. Should their vote count? It was kinda interesting. What do y'all think?

Yes, have the vote count.

polarpi · #5 11-03-2004, 03:51 AM

I'm just curious...how would they know that the person died before the election (assuming that it happened within two weeks of the election - just estimating). I don't know how long it takes to get obituaries into major newspapers, and I don't know if anyone is sitting there scanning the newspapers for people who've passed away and then seeing if they've voted absentee.

Maybe it's just too late for me to thinking about this stuff???

kafromTN · #6 11-03-2004, 05:38 AM

No their vote should not count. If military personal die between the time they send off the absentee ballot and the time of the election their vote does not count. Therefore a person who dies between the time of them voting early& election day their vote should not count as they are not alive the day of the election, the same way the military personal's vote does not count.
Just about making it fair and balanced.
-Mark

CutiePie2000 · #7 11-03-2004, 08:45 PM

What if you vote on voting day, then drive home and get in a car accident and die? What then?

hottytoddy · #8 11-03-2004, 08:48 PM

well that's the election day...so they argued that your vote should count then. but if you die before the election.....then it should not. They were saying that in Florida, an average of 455 people of voting age die every week....and last year Florida was decided by just over 500 votes. Get where I'm going with this?

However the chances of every singe one of those votes being for one candidate is very slim...so???

madmax · #9 11-03-2004, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by qteasied
I don't care what the hell they do about dead people or their votes. They should be talking about how the living got screwed over. Fix the machines and count the ballots right. It doesn't even matter. I wish everybody who wants to vote has the chance, even if they died right after they walked out the polling office. But not in America. We're going to have to live with four MORE years of BUllSHit no matter who the hell voted for who.

Put down your crack pipe and get a job. The ballots were counted. It isn't the governments fault you don't know how to read a punch card.

Rudey · #10 11-03-2004, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by qteasied
I don't care what the hell they do about dead people or their votes. They should be talking about how the living got screwed over. Fix the machines and count the ballots right. It doesn't even matter. I wish everybody who wants to vote has the chance, even if they died right after they walked out the polling office. But not in America. We're going to have to live with four MORE years of BUllSHit no matter who the hell voted for who.

Not in America what? Conspiracy theory? The people voted. Kerry and Edwards are not out there saying they were robbed of votes.

Are you even from a swing state?

-Rudey

Speechpath · #11 11-03-2004, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CutiePie2000
What if you vote on voting day, then drive home and get in a car accident and die? What then?

Actually was on the news here last week, a woman who early voted and later died. The elections folks said if they got notification from the state that she had died prior to the election her vote would not have counted. But if they don't get notification in time, it does count.

ShaedyKD · #12 11-03-2004, 10:36 PM

I believe that I heard on the news yesterday, that in the state of Florida, absentee ballots that are submitted by voters who then die before the election ARE COUNTED. I could be wrong though, feel free to correct me if you know the law in FL.

OrigamiTulip · #13 11-03-2004, 11:14 PM

If the person managed to cast the ballot while they were alive, then the vote should count. Should elections officials have to try and figure out which ballot this man cast, and not count it?

Florida Man Suffers Fatal Heart Attack After Voting

POSTED: 7:25 am EST November 3, 2004
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- A 67-year-old man suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after casting his ballot in this Broward County community.

ELECTION 2004
ELECTION RESULTS: Florida and U.S.
FLA. ELECTION NEWS: Latest Headlines

George Stanley, of Coral Springs, was sitting on a chair waiting for his wife to finish voting Tuesday when he fell to the floor, said police Capt. Jeff Maslan.

Stanley was taken to Coral Springs Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Stanley's wife, Judy Stanley, said her husband was undecided as they went to the polls.

"No one will ever know how he voted," she said. "He took that with him."

Stanley was a West Point graduate who served as an Army captain in the 1960s, said his son-in-law, Richard Dix, of Connecticut.

AGDee · #14 11-03-2004, 11:41 PM

In the case of that man, it is pretty easy to figure out which one is his. In case you didn't notice, each ballot is numbered, there is a list of who got which ballot AND it's recorded on the little slip you fill out with your name, birthdate and address.

However, the logistics of trying to find every person who died after casting an absentee ballot is ridiculous. You can't even get a copy of a death certificate for like 30 days after the person dies. How would the elections officials even know that the person died? What if they cast an absentee ballot because they were going out of town and died while out of town? I've had co-workers who jumped through hoops trying to get the city/state/IRS, etc. realize that someone was dead. So, even though it's a good ethical question, feasibility has to be taken into account.

Dee