Current Events > Woman cast her ballot early before dying of cancer, state will throw it out

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/31/politics/voter-death-election-count-invs/index.html

Amber Pflughoeft beamed with pride as she filled out her ballot for the first time last month.
A 20-year-old who'd been fighting bone cancer for a decade, she was fascinated with politics, her mother Tiffany Pflughoeft remembered. And after spending the last midterm election in the hospital following a bone marrow transplant, she was determined to vote this year.

But just a few days after she mailed in her ballot, Amber's condition took a sudden turn for the worse. She went back to the hospital and died in late September.

Now, her ballot will be thrown out under Wisconsin election law. She is one of several dozen Wisconsinites whose votes will be canceled because they passed away after voting early, according to state Elections Commission data provided to CNN through a public records request.

"She was so excited about it," Tiffany said this week. "She died on a Monday, but on Saturday, when she could still talk, she was telling all the nurses and doctors, 'I voted.'"
"We never realized it wouldn't count," she said.
States around the country are divided on whether to count votes from people who cast an early ballot and then die before Election Day. At least a dozen states allow it, more than a dozen others reject those votes, and laws in other states are unclear, recent research from the National Conference of State Legislatures found.

Among the most crucial swing states, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania don't count early ballots cast by voters who die before Election Day, while Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Ohio do, according to the NCSL and state elections officials.

This year, when record numbers of Americans are casting ballots early and coronavirus cases and deaths are spiking in some states, it's not just a speculative question. The rules mean that even as Covid-19 has become the defining issue of the presidential race, voters who die in the pandemic won't have their votes count in some states.

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This is bullshit and should be unconstitutional. That was the only vote she would have cast in her whole life and they robbed her of it.

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I think it's silly mostly because it would be a lot of effort to track down the dead people, and the number of people who are going to die before their ballot is cast will be minuscule. Simply a poor use of resources.
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Honestly, I find it selfish to vote if you're not going to be around long enough to see your candidate do anything.

I mainly have this opinion because I'm in a college town that has a university that sways local elections, because the student population is big enough. A lot vote, then leave forever

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Unsugarized_Foo posted...

Honestly, I find it selfish to vote if you're not going to be around long enough to see your candidate do anything.

I mainly have this opinion because I'm in a college town that has a university that sways local elections, because the student population is big enough. A lot vote, then leave forever

damn bro Ive never seen such massive stupidity from such a tiny post

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HighOnSolar posted...

damn bro Ive never seen such massive stupidity from such a tiny post

Selfish man

Edit: or woman, my b if so

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On moral grounds, it's kind of douchey to toss it, but legally it makes sense. I guess if the person is legally dead before it's received, yes. It's not like it's an actual vote until it's truly counted. If they cherry picked and deleting dead people's fully confirmed votes, that'd be horrible. If someone died halfway into the voting booth, it'd be weird to accept their vote.

nemu posted...

On moral grounds, it's kind of douchey to toss it, but legally it makes sense. I guess if the person is legally dead before it's received, yes. It's not like it's an actual vote until it's truly counted. If they cherry picked and deleting dead people's fully confirmed votes, that'd be horrible. If someone died halfway into the voting booth, it'd be weird to accept their vote.

If she died 20 minutes after voting in person on November 3rd it would have counted. There's no fundamental difference with the concepts behind both.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

If she died 20 minutes after voting in person on November 3rd it would have counted. There's no fundamental difference with the concepts behind both.

If she was alive when her vote was legally registered, then it's a living person's vote. There legally has to be a cutoff somewhere. It definitely feels shitty, but this feels like a necessary legal case. I don't know how legally registering the votes work, but I wouldn't be against moving it up to when they are received if they're currently only officially counted on the official voting day.

nemu posted...

If she was alive when her vote was legally registered, then it's a living person's vote. There legally has to be a cutoff somewhere. It definitely feels shitty, but this feels like a necessary legal case. I don't know how legally registering the votes work, but I wouldn't be against moving it up to when they are received if they're currently only officially counted on the official voting day.

Legally no there doesn't have to be a "cutoff." 4 states explicitly allow you to count dead votes (as long as they were cast before dying).

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As long as you're alive when you cast your vote it should be counted.
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RIP.

I wonder if it came out she voted for Trump, how many people here would say "Good." instead.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

This is bullshit and should be unconstitutional. That was the only vote she would have cast in her whole life and they robbed her of it.

If she's 20 she would have been able to cast a vote in 2018. So if that's the only vote she cast that's her own fault.
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harley2280 posted...

If she's 20 she would have been able to cast a vote in 2018. So if that's the only vote she cast that's her own fault.

She was sick with cancer in the hospital and couldn't vote.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

harley2280 posted...

If she's 20 she would have been able to cast a vote in 2018. So if that's the only vote she cast that's her own fault.

She was sick with cancer in the hospital and couldn't vote.

Literally one of the reasons absentee voting is made for.
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I think it should count, but I'm not particularly outraged about it.

Compared to most voter suppression/disenfranchisement tactics, this doesn't feel exploitable by candidates.

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If you have to abide by the rules of a society after an election, your vote should be counted. On the flip side, it should not be counted if you don't have to, like in this case.

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Unsugarized_Foo posted...

Honestly, I find it selfish to vote if you're not going to be around long enough to see your candidate do anything.

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Conflict posted...

It's called voting for the advancement of the future

I'd rather votes be from the people that'll be directly affected

I get the logic (assuming the voter that's passed is wise)

Maybe if the person that passed still has tax money floating around, they should have a say in where that goes

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Early voting is legal, and she placed her vote. It should still be valid.

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Why is this an argument? You guys are pathetic. Her vote should count, even if it was for some one you or I didn't like.

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If she was alive when she cast her vote, then no reason for it to not be counted. Don't care who she voted for, it was legally done and therefore should not be tossed out.

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Makes sense to me, and she still got the experience of voting before she died so I don't think it matters that much tbh

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Anteaterking posted...

I think it should count, but I'm not particularly outraged about it.

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Conflict posted...

You're probably not going to be alive long enough to reap the benefits of climate change prevention, but you can support it so your descendants will.

And you could also be dying of cancer and not live to see the next year but still vote blue so your LGBT friends don't suffer losses of rights and protections.

That's essentially the exact opposite of selfish

True, but you could be voting for how a certain goal is going to be done. That should be left to the people who will be putting money towards or actually doing the work

Voting on social matters should be left to the society at the moment.

I guess selfish is a bad word given that voting for others like that is noble


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Conflict posted...

Unsugarized_Foo posted...

Honestly, I find it selfish to vote if you're not going to be around long enough to see your candidate do anything.

It's called voting for the advancement of the future

harley2280 posted...

Literally one of the reasons absentee voting is made for.

Damn you're hella pressed to blame a cancer victim huh

It's just stupid to say this would have been her only chance to vote because it's clearly not true.
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Unsugarized_Foo posted...

True, but you could be voting for how a certain goal is going to be done. That should be left to the people who will be putting money towards or actually doing the work

This is the second time you've mentioned money...you know that your vote isn't weighed by your tax burden, right?

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Anteaterking posted...

This is the second time you've mentioned money...you know that your vote isn't weighed by your tax burden, right?

Your taxes are usually affected by government folk

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lilORANG posted...

I think it's silly mostly because it would be a lot of effort to track down the dead people, and the number of people who are going to die before their ballot is cast will be minuscule. Simply a poor use of resources.

Basically that.

We sent out over a million stimulus checks to dead people

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There should be specific laws saying one way or the other.

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Unsugarized_Foo posted...

Honestly, I find it selfish to vote if you're not going to be around long enough to see your candidate do anything.

I mainly have this opinion because I'm in a college town that has a university that sways local elections, because the student population is big enough. A lot vote, then leave forever

I don't get how it's selfish to vote when you're not doing it for yourself.

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I didnt bother reading the article but to me its stupid not to count the ballot if the voter died after the ballot was cast. Even if the person is no longer here, she would also be voting for what she believes in for the future of the country and for her family. Let me know if Im missing something. As long as the person has air in their lungs to cast the ballot, it should count.

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It's more logistically stupid than anything. The odds of it materially changing anything has to be outweighed by the resources used to track it.

Use those resources to make voting more accessible. That also would dilute the impact of the limited zombie votes while also having a benefit for the community at large.

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It was cast when she was alive. That should still be valid, imo.

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Conflict posted...

harley2280 posted...

It's just stupid to say this would have been her only chance to vote because it's clearly not true.

It would've been her only chance to vote in a presidential election.

Is that better? Sheesh.

It is.
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Unsugarized_Foo posted...

I mainly have this opinion because I'm in a college town that has a university that sways local elections, because the student population is big enough. A lot vote, then leave forever

And are promptly replaced by new incoming students.... they represent student interests in the community. Of course they should get to vote.
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So, what vote are they going to discount? The vote itself is secret, and the ballot does not have individually identifiable markings.

Unless this is before it's added to the others and still in its mailing envelope.
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lilORANG posted...

And are promptly replaced by new incoming students.... they represent student interests in the community. Of course they should get to vote.

Then we should be voting by the demographic then and not the individual

But the votes really should go to the governed

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Depends on state law.

Wisconsin doesn't start counting mail-in votes until Election Day, so it objectively shouldn't count.

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Sheiky-Baby posted...

RIP.

I wonder if it came out she voted for Trump, how many people here would say "Good." instead.

Indeed.

Also all this "I VOTED" propaganda seems like it has a biased SJW slant.

Be a major LOL if it gave Trump the win.


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PrettyBoyFloyd posted...

Indeed.

Also all this "I VOTED" propaganda seems like it has a biased SJW slant.

Be a major LOL if it gave Trump the win.

Seems like you have some kinks to work out.

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PrettyBoyFloyd posted...

Indeed.

Also all this "I VOTED" propaganda seems like it has a biased SJW slant.

Be a major LOL if it gave Trump the win.

PrettyBoyFloyd posted...

Indeed.

Also all this "I VOTED" propaganda seems like it has a biased SJW slant.

Be a major LOL if it gave Trump the win.

These are stupid takes.

1) If she votes for a rock, her vote should still count.

2) If Trump wins due to higher voter turnout, it would suck for many of us. But I'd still be happy that more people voted and maybe it would serve to show Republicans that disenfranchising voters isn't always a positive thing for them.

gotta admire the pettiness

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bumping to get evening CE's opinions

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Depends. Who did she vote for?

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You don't really need to elect people to represent your values when you're dead but I suppose one could argue they are also voting for the future of their kids/family.

Personally, my mind has changed. The other day I said no it should not count but once I started thinking about it maybe it should. I vote for what I think is best not just for me but for the people around me and that I care about and their future in this world.

I think as long as you were alive when the vote was cast it should count...and I know that sentence sounds stupid but I worded it that way because I am sure their are frauds out there who vote for their dead relatives which should not count.

Theon_Greyjoy posted...

Depends. Who did she vote for?

Why would that make any difference?

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