Contributor
My understanding is that in California the vote is valid as soon as it is dropped in the mailbox. There have been folks on the news who were so worked up about voting they made sure to file absentee as soon as they could . Just in case they died.
When their neighbor died around 1990 my parents said he was still on the posted allowed voters list after ten years.
Bill D
Contributor
I'm not sure what you mean by "tracability" but voting is secret and anything that would allow someone to know how you voted, especially after you submitted your vote, would be against the law.Originally Posted by roger wiegand
Think how this would work out. An elected politician could get a list of everyone who voted for him/her and only help those who voted "correctly".
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Contributor
Where I have had numbered ballots the numbers were removed and handed to the voter before the ballot was put in the box.
Your state may have a different procedure, but if it can track back to the voter, that would likely be a violation of being a private ballot.
I have never heard anyone say, "there is no voter fraud." I have heard claims of it being negligible.It really riles me to hear people says there is no voter fraud
The theme of this thread is the legality of deceased people having their votes counted, primarily if they voted early and die before election day. We should try and keep it "on topic" even if this is the Off Topic conference.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
Ballots are not numbered in my state. All the identifying info for validation is on the envelope. Once the envelope is validated and opened, the ballot is separated from the envelope and put in the machine, so there is no way to go back and connect a ballot with the voter. And then there's early voting, where you go in to the election office and fill out and submit a ballot just like election day, that has no identifying number on it.
< insert spurious quote here >
Contributor
Seems like this would be a rare occurrence at most. Not sure why all the grave concern.
Member
Law says the elections are to be held a certain day. Not a certain month, or season and votes must be in by certain deadlines. Otherwise we might have some election results change 6 months after the election or 2 yrs after the loser took office, we have to change everything back. Absentee ballots were supposed to be for people like soldiers who could not travel hundreds of miles of across continents to vote on election day. I remember driving people from nursing homes to the polls on election day. Those who couldn't ride, simply didn't vote. Now Ballot harvesting runs rampant and crooked people can request ballots for the lunatics and comatose and then vote for them. Many jurisdictions are now permitting non-citizens to vote for mayor, city council etc. One beach resort town I heard of, has permitted non-resident property owners to vote on issues related to taxes. Some urban centers are starting to do this and how do we keep the tally between citizens and noncitizens separate?
Moderator
Ballots are bar coded here to insure that only one ballot can be voted by a registered voter. It's not illegal.
--
The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Moderator
In PA, deaths are recorded at the county court house and a death certificate is issued. I would expect that the county recorder would forward a listing of death certificates issued to the voter registration office. You can't access back accounts or safe deposit box of the deceased without a death certificate and a document issued by the county that you are an Executor. Even joint accounts are supposed to be frozen. There is a person in each bank that reads the obits each day to see if a person with an account in the bank has died so the account can be locked.
Lee Schierer
USNA '71
Go Navy!
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Contributor
If elections are to be held on a "certain day" I've always wondered why the polls aren't open for 24 hours on that day. It is called election day isn't it? We can count the votes any time we want. We would be much better off keeping the media out of it when they report, correctly or incorrectly, how many votes have been counted for any particular candidate and sway the process in the direction they want.
Confidence: The feeling you experience before you fully understand the situation
Contributor
Wat??? ....
Kindness Every Day......All Day
Contributor
I can guarantee that the barcode does not tie back to a voter. Being able to tell how an individual voted would negate the concept of a secret vote, which is a cornerstone of our voting system.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Contributor
It may be a local or state wide situation.Wat??? ....
It seems denying the spouse of the deceased access to their account would be a cruel practice. Anyone who lost their car or home due to not being able to pay down their loan(s) would have grounds for a lawsuit.
Many of the recurring payments in my household are paid automagically on a set date every month. Would those also be stopped? If my spouse died, would all of my utilities be cut off?
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
I can understand joint accounts being frozen if they require both signatures but if the account is set up so either can sign, it doesn't make sense.
Contributor
Qualifying as an Executor is easy and quick, so it's not really a problem. I'm been an Executor several times in two states for some complicated estates. As soon as the Executor is qualified and notice given, the bank accounts are open. No Utilities would hardly be cut off.
Contributor
It must be different in Pennsylvania then. My wife worked at a bank for 25 years and joint accounts aren't frozen here. In fact my MIL passed away early in February and because my wife was also on her account she wrote checks for the funeral expenses from her account. Totally legal and allowed. Same with any joint account. It's only a problem when both aren't on the account. Then it takes some legal hoops being jumped through. It's also not a legal requirement that a death notice or obituary be published at least here. I know of a guy who recently passed away and other than knowing because of close friends there has never been anything published in print or online. I can't imagine a large bank with thousands of accounts in a heavily populated area trying to keep up with who might have died. What happens if they find someone with the exact same name as an account holder in the obituaries? Seems like a recipe for disaster.
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