Dead voters

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on June 15, 2007 - 10:09am.
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The dead can vote in North Carolina. It just doesn't always count.

Recent probes by state and federal officials of voting records have turned up a few ballots apparently cast by deceased voters. That has led to claims of voter fraud.

But it isn't necessarily fraudulent. As Dome discovered back when he was just a WakePol, people occasionally die after they have already cast an absentee ballot. 

Under state law, you must be eligible to vote on Election Day, and being dead makes you ineligible. But no one at the local or state level regularly checks the absentees for dead voters.

During a recount, political opponents on both sides will often comb through the data and ask for those ballots to be disqualified. The State Board of Elections relies on that competitiveness to weed out ballots that might swing a race.

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Re: Dead voters

Submitted by dahedgehog on June 15, 2007 - 1:31pm.

Hmmm. The Justice Department trying to suppress votes in a swing state? They would never do that, would they?

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Re: Dead voters

Submitted by lefaim on June 15, 2007 - 10:38am.

"Gary Bartlett, executive director of the elections board, responded Wednesday with a stinging 10-page letter declaring many of the findings invalid. He accused Merritt's office of misleading the elections board and of rejecting its help.

"(Y)our office appears to have a fundamental misunderstanding about the data that was reviewed or about the federal and State laws governing the voter registration process," Bartlett wrote in the letter, which he provided to lawmakers Thursday."

"In a sharply worded response, Bartlett pointed to flaws in the Justice Department's analysis. For example, election officials have to wait two consecutive federal elections to remove someone who has simply been inactive. In a county like Mecklenburg with many people moving in and out, the voter roll can appear inflated.

In any case, the Justice Department cited no evidence of anyone voting illegally or of voter fraud."

Im gonna have to go with Gary on this and every other question involving voting, rather than a CPA who uses his government position for personal and political gain.

http://www.charlotte.com/mobile/story/160851.html

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Re: Dead voters

Submitted by gercohen on June 15, 2007 - 10:18am.

back in 1976, when absentee ballots had to be notarized, I was a notary and used to go to infirm people's homes to notarize their ballot. I remember going to one voter's home before the primary, she was on her death bed, but told me "I'm so happy to be voting for Howard Lee for Lieutenant Governor as the last thing I do before dying.". The person who had called me there to assist (Rebecca Clark) told her elderly friend "no it's not the last thing you'll do, you have to vote for him again in the second primary in four weeks". I stamped her ballot and dropped it at the post office. She died between the time she voted and the primary, but I assume her vote was counted.

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