The ballot tallies that start emerging on election night will include the votes of at least a few dead people.
No, this isn’t Chicago. And it’s not a conspiracy.
It’s the law.
Put simply, if someone casts an early ballot and then dies before Election Day, his or her vote is counted.
It starts, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, with the simple matter of practicality.
“How would the (county) recorder know someone died after they mailed their ballot?’’ said Aaron Thacker, spokesman for the office.
There are procedures for counties to cancel voter registrations of people who died.
The Arizona Department of Health Services provides a monthly list to the Secretary of State’s Office of those who have died. That list is compared to the statewide voter registration database.
In the case of a “hard match,’’ the registration is canceled. But that can occur only if it matches up with the first three letters of the individual’s first and last name, the date of birth and the last four digits of the person’s Social Security number.
A “soft match’’ occurs when there’s only the names and date of birth that line up. That then requires the county recorder to do further investigation and, if there is a belief there is a true match, to cancel the registration — but with a letter to the person’s mailing address of record to contact the county if they are, in fact, still alive.
The law also allows counties to look to other resources.
“We will look through the obituaries,’’ said Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cazares-Kelly. And other sections of her office that record documents such as property transfers will see if there is a mention of someone dying, she said.
“We checked the deceased person to see if they were a registered voter and we’ll begin the voter cancellation process,’’ Cazares-Kelly said.
She said there are also situations of self-reporting of a sort, when a family member calls in or sends a copy of an obituary.
But this process of counties regularly updating the registration rolls still leaves the door open for counting an early ballot from someone who already died.
It comes down to when that person “cast’’ a ballot.
“A vote is considered legally cast once an eligible voter places it in the mail or drop box,’’ said Taylor Kinnerup of the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office. “It is not based on if the person is alive once it’s counted.’’
That’s not just what her office says. It’s also in the Elections Procedures Manual, which has the force of law.
“A registrant who passes away after casting a valid ballot is entitled to have their ballot tabulated and votes counted,’’ the manual says.
That’s conditional, however, on that ballot having been “cast.’’
Casting a ballot is defined as going one of the early voting locations that most counties have. It also applies to putting an early ballot in the mail or depositing it into a drop box.
But it does not include simply filling out the ballot, leaving it on the kitchen table, and a spouse sending it off after the voter died.
Figuring the timing out presents a different issue for county election officials.
“Let’s say that they passed away on Oct. 17, and Oct. 18 we received their ballot,’’ Cazares-Kelly said. “That’s still within the timeframe that it would be plausible that somebody voted and then died. But, typically, we’re not looking for dead people.’’
Even assuming a recorder might find out somehow before Election Day that a ballot was dropped in the mail after someone died, canceling that vote is pretty near impossible. That has to do with how early ballots are processed.
County officials compare the signature on the received ballot envelope with other signatures they have on file from that person.
“If we have verified the voter and it matches the signature that we have on file, and we have accepted that ballot affidavit, then it will go to the Elections Department,’’ Cazares-Kelly said. “And they will separate it from the affidavit and it will become anonymous at that point.’’
That’s designed so that, once in the system, a specific ballot cannot be linked to a specific voter.
But it also means that even if county officials find out before Election Day that a mail-in ballot came from someone who died before it was dropped in the post office box, there is simply no way to fish out that specific ballot.
Still, Cazares-Kelly said, that should not be considered an invitation for family members to send back the mail-in ballots of their already dead relatives.
“If we find out at a later time that we accepted a signature that, given the timeframe and the date on the envelope and the date we received it, there’s no way this person could have voted, then it’s cause for some questions and that’s going to be communicated over to our attorney,’’ she said.
Cazares-Kelly said how election officials handle the ballots of the recently deceased is not unique.
Consider, she said, someone who cast an early ballot on Oct. 17. Then, a day later, that person is found guilty of a felony, meaning the loss of voting privileges.
“If they were fine on the 17th, then that ballot’s going to count,’’ Cazares-Kelly said.
So how many ballots cast might fit into the category of those who died before Election Day?
Records from the state health department from October 2022, the last time there was a statewide race, show that more than 11,000 people died in Arizona. That is the closest comparison to the 27-day window for early voting.
The vast majority were people of voting age.
But Cazares-Kelly said she doesn’t believe the number of ballots received in her county from people who already died is anywhere near that large. She put the figure “probably in the teens.’’
And Maricopa County estimates the number at a couple of dozen.
