The Vote And Voting Problems, Pre-Election Day 2020

Marianna Williams from Dallas, Texas: If you vote early or by mail, but then die before the election, is your vote still counted?

This is a dark (but totally valid) question that pops up in arcane corners of election law from time to time. And like so many of the other great questions we’ve been getting from readers, the answer is … it depends.

According to a recent tally from the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 12 states direct election officials to count absentee ballots cast by eligible voters who die between when they vote and Election Day. Florida, for example, explicitly says that as long as a valid ballot (meaning the voter’s signature is verified) is postmarked or received by election officials before the voter’s death, the ballot will count. Another 15 states expressly prohibit officials from counting these ballots, and the remainder don’t specifically address it. In many of those states, such as North Carolina, an absentee ballot can be challenged on the grounds that the person who cast it died before Election Day.

I should note that the existence or inclusion of these ballots is not indicative of voter fraud. First of all, there is no evidence of widespread fraud in which dead people cast ballots. Secondly, the number of ballots potentially affected — even during a time when hundreds of Americans are dying of the coronavirus each day — is relatively small. In 2016, Colorado, one of the 15 states which doesn’t allow these ballots, actually counted between 15 and 20 ballots cast by voters who died after mailing in their ballot but before Election Day. (This was in a state where more than 2.7 million early or absentee votes were cast in 2016.)

A Michigan judge last night struck down a directive from the Michigan secretary of state that prohibited the open carry of firearms near polling locations and absentee counting boards on Election Day. (State laws that ban concealed carry at certain locations, such as schools or churches, will remain in effect.) State Attorney General Dana Nessel said her office would appeal the decision.

Conversation around voter intimidation has taken on new urgency this cycle. While experts in election law and in armed groups told FiveThirtyEight’s Maggie Koerth they don’t believe the risk of armed or threatening poll disruptors is the greatest threat to the election, they pointed out that the fear of voter intimidation could, itself, intimidate voters.

Another day, another late-night court ruling. Just now, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order that counties may have only one ballot drop site each — reversing a lower court ruling that had said counties could set up multiple drop sites. Voting-rights advocates had been pushing for more drop sites in large counties like Harris and Travis, which are home to millions of people (many of them Democrats).