But like I said, I don’t feel strongly about this one way or the other, there are good arguments, and it’s a tough one. Yet another issue raised by Vote-by-mail.

It seems reasonable that after a voter has cast their ballot, it should be counted, no? The tricky bit is when “casting” takes place relative to the other steps. With vote-by-mail, “authentication” actually takes place, arguably, after “casting” (signatures are checked after the ballot is received via mail or hand-delivered to the polling place). If part of the authentication process includes a check on “is this person dead and therefore ineligible to vote?” it would seem that anyone who cast a VBM ballot and then died wouldn’t have their vote counted.

Another tricky bit is the following case: say a voter votes in a polling place and makes it all the way through the ballot marking stage. That is, say this voter has a heart attack and dies on the way to casting their ballot in the ballot box (or optical scanner… or hitting the “vote” button on a touchscreen).

While many jurisdictions have “fleeing voter” rules, it doesn’t seem like as many have “dead voter” rules.

I disagree with your logic. If someone dies in a car accident on the way FROM the voting booth before the polls close their vote isn’t canceled. So by pure, unemotional fairness, neither should the vote of someone who voted by mail and died the day before election day.

– Chris