Elections

VERIFYING what happens if someone votes early but dies before Election Day

Whether election officials count absentee, early voting or mail-in ballots cast by a person who later dies varies by state.

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Jimmy Carter’s family says the former president hopes to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Carter, who has been in hospice care for over a year, turns 100 on Oct. 1.

“I’m trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” Carter said during a conversation with his son Chip in late July, according to his grandson Jason Carter.

Early voting in Georgia, where Carter lives, starts on Oct. 15. Georgia and other states also allow absentee or mail-in ballots to be submitted before Election Day on Nov. 5.

In August, a person on Threads asked: “If a very old person takes advantage of early voting in their state, but passes away before the actual election date, is their vote counted?”

THE QUESTION

Do absentee or early voting ballots count if a person dies before Election Day?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

This needs context.

The answer to this question varies by state.

Some states permit counting ballots cast by voters who die before Election Day, while other states prohibit counting deceased voters’ ballots. More than half of states don’t have any official rules.

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WHAT WE FOUND

Whether an absentee or mail-in ballot or an early vote cast by a person who dies before Election Day is counted varies by state.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) says “it is hard to retrieve ballots from people who have died between casting their votes and Election Day.”

“Once the absentee ballot has been verified and removed from the envelope for counting, the ballot cannot be retraced to the voter,” the NCSL says. “Catching a ballot, then, is only possible when it is still in its return envelope, and only in cases where election officials have received notice of the death.”

The NCSL says nine states have statutes that explicitly permit counting ballots cast by voters who die before Election Day, while 10 states have statutes that explicitly prohibit counting deceased voters’ ballots.

Three states have different rules, while the remaining 28 states and Washington, D.C. do not have any officials rules on this issue, the NCSL says.

The nine states that explicitly permit counting ballots cast by voters who die before Election Day are:

The NCSL says Connecticut counts deceased voters’ ballots only if the person is a member of the armed services.

Meanwhile, the 10 states that explicitly prohibit counting ballots cast by voters who die before Election Day are:

At least two states also prohibit counting deceased voters’ ballots through attorneys general opinions, rather than through statute. This means there isn’t an official law but a previous attorney general opinion is being upheld in the state. Those states are:

Kentucky
Mississippi

VERIFY asked election officials in the states with no official rules if an early vote cast by a person who dies before Election Day is counted in the state.

In an email, a California Secretary of State spokesperson said “the vote will be counted as long as all eligibility and deadline requirements are fulfilled.”

Elections officials in Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. also told VERIFY that the deceased person’s vote would be counted in the election.

Colorado is a vote-by-mail state. This means every voter receives a mail-in ballot and voters aren’t required to request absentee ballots.

“If a voter returns their mail ballot prior to Election Day or participates in early in-person voting, and then passes away prior to Election Day, their vote is still counted,” a Colorado Secretary of State spokesperson said.

Oregon is also an entirely vote-by-mail state. An Oregon Secretary of State spokesperson said in an email that a deceased person’s vote would be counted “as long as the voter was able to sign their ballot” before returning it in the mail.

Meanwhile, an Alaska Division of Elections spokesperson told VERIFY that “it depends on when the information and verification that the person is deceased is provided to the division.”

A Minnesota Secretary of State spokesperson says the state tracks voter deaths as a reason for rejecting a ballot.

“If a voter dies after casting their ballot, but the ballot has not been removed from the signature envelope, then the ballot will not be counted as long as their death is updated with the county,” the Minnesota Secretary of State spokesperson said.

But the spokesperson added a person’s vote would be counted “if a voter casts a ballot early or in-person in the 18 days before an election, or if an absentee ballot board has already removed the ballot from the signature envelope before their death.”

In Vermont, once a voter’s ballot is accepted by a clerk and determined not to be defective, that vote will count, according to a Vermont Secretary of State spokesperson.

“If it is defective, the voter would be given an opportunity to cure their defective ballot. If a citizen cast a defective ballot and did not cure it – either because they passed away before curing it or any other reason – the vote would not count,” the spokesperson said.

As for Jimmy Carter’s state of Georgia, VERIFY has reached out to election officials but has not heard back at the time of publication.

VERIFY partner station WCNC contributed to this report.

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