Real dead guy can win, fake dead people can't vote

In Missouri, the late Mel Carnahan beat the living John Ashcroft by 41,000 votes. Meanwhile, in Florida, a voter is turned away because elections officials list her as deceased.

Published November 8, 2000 9:47PM (EST)

The Sun Sentinel in Broward County, Fla., reports that there were more than 1,000 complaints from voters at polling places. At least one voter was forced to walk away from the polls because election officials had her listed as deceased, according to the paper.

In Georgia, on the other hand, those that have ceased to be have not ceased to vote. The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville reports: "More than 15,000 dead people are on active voting rolls statewide" in the Peach State. The paper reports that Alan Jay Mandel, an expired Atlanta tobacco shop owner, cast his last three votes after dying of congestive heart failure.

The paper states that 5,412 votes have been cast in the names of dead people in Georgia over the past 20 years, according to public records reviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV.

Meanwhile, in Missouri, Republican Sen. John Ashcroft conceded the Senate election to the late Gov. Mel Carnahan on Wednesday.

According to the Associated Press, no one has "ever posthumously won election to the Senate, though voters on at least three occasions sent deceased candidates to the House."

Republicans had argued the late governor was not, as the U.S. Constitution requires, an inhabitant of Missouri because he is dead.


By Carina Chocano

Carina Chocano writes about TV for Salon. She is the author of "Do You Love Me or Am I Just Paranoid?" (Villard).

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