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LWV WCGA

Election Fast Facts - February 2021

Did you know that sometimes dead people vote and it’s legal?!


After the Michigan primary in August 2020, there were claims that large numbers of “dead people” (as many as 10,000) voted during the Michigan primary in August 2020.

So what happened?


If you check the voter rolls against the people who are listed as casting an absentee ballot due to the large number of people voting and the time involved you will always find some number of people who vote early or absentee and die before Election Day.


When Michigan started counting ballots for their primary election held in August 2020, 846 absentee ballots were rejected because the voter had died between casting the ballot and Election Day. Michigan identified these voters and their ballots were rejected and not counted because the voter had died.


In the August 2020 Minnesota primary, Minnesota rejected 9 absentee ballots because the voter died between submitting their ballot and the ballot being counted. Because Minnesota starts counting ballots 7 days before Election Day, a very small number of ballots are counted for voters who have died.


This is why states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania don’t allow absentee ballots to be counted until Election Day. (So the votes of people who are dead on Election Day do not get counted.)




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