[EM] NY voter voted absentee, then died; ballot ruled invalid

[Graham Bignell]

This was in the RISKS list digest I got on the weekend (the paragraph
in [] at the end is from the submitter:

Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 9:27:05 PDT
From: "Peter G. Neumann" <neumann at csl.sri.com>
Subject: NY voter voted absentee, then died; ballot ruled invalid

[Source: Tiebreaking Vote Cast by Dead Man; Runoff Required, AP item, PGN-ed.
Thanks to Joseph Lorenzo Hall for spotting this one.]
http://www.1010wins.com/Tiebreaking-Vote-Cast-by-Dead-Man--Runoff-Required/4443153

OGDENSBURG, N.Y. (AP) -- A school board election ended in a tie after an
absentee ballot from one candidate's dead brother-in-law was ruled invalid.
Vicky Peo and John Wilson each received 388 votes Tuesday for a seat on the
Ogdensburg City School Board.  The tying tally came after an absentee ballot
from Peo's brother-in-law, Franklin "Peanut'' Bouchey, was ruled invalid
because he died three days before the election.  Superintendent Timothy
Vernsey said the ruling was based on both education and election law.
Vernsey says a special election pitting Wilson against Peo must now be held.

 [This is one of those cases that might fall through different cracks in
 different places.  If this voter had opted for in-person early voting, his
 actual completed ballot was supposedly not attributable to him, and could
 not have been individually revoked.  We know that in-person voting and
 absentee voting generally have different RISKS.  In this case they might
 also have had different RULINGS -- especially the ambiguity of a one-vote
 margin under these circumstances might have caused a partisan judge to
 demand a revote anyway.  Besides, dead people have been voting for many
 years -- unfortunately, it seems to be an old tradition.  And in some
 voting technologies, one-vote margins are statistically a virtual tie
 anyway.  PGN]