Special Election Alert: Dead voter casts ballot in Springfield

Dead voter casts ballot in Springfield

By PAUL CHESSER

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—A woman who cast an absentee ballot late last year died last week, but apparently her vote will still count, despite the fact that it may have been illegal.

An officer, who did not want to be identified, at the Van Sickle Middle School poll revealed the nature of the situation after a discussion with this reporter about a recent story that cited the number of deceased persons on Massachusetts voter rolls. "Well, I'm about to cast a vote for a dead person here in a little while," he said.

He went on to explain that the voter, a woman who he would not identify, mailed her absentee ballot on December 26, 2009 to the Board of Elections. According to at least two other poll workers, the woman passed away last week and her funeral was on Thursday. Asked if he knew whether it was a legal ballot or not, he responded that he wasn't sure, and called the City of Springfield Election Commission Office.

Less than five minutes later he received a return call from an unidentified official with city elections saying the ballot was legal. A later conversation with Gladys Oyola, acting election commissioner, revealed that city staff consulted with the Secretary of State's office and were informed that the ballot was legal.

However, Chapter 54, Section 100 of the General Laws of Massachusetts states, "No ballot mailed or delivered…shall be counted if the officers charged with the duty of counting the same are cognizant of the fact that the voter has died prior to the opening of the polls on the day of the election."

A worker in the city election office explained that she had consulted with the Secretary of State's office. "I get my instructions from the state," she explained, adding the information about the woman's passage was "hearsay." She did not want to be identified in a news story.

Earlier at the Van Sickle School the poll worker relayed that he was told the same thing – that the voter's death was "hearsay." He then said to this reporter, "It's not hearsay; they (the other poll workers) went to her funeral." But he accepted the city's counsel that the ballot was legal. The language of the law addressing the situation was not discovered until later this afternoon.

Asked for someone who could speak on the record on behalf of the city election office, Oyola then got on the phone. She explained that the absentee ballots are sent to the appropriate polling places for counting on Election Day.

"As far as us here in the office, we weren't aware she died," Oyola said, adding that because of that the vote should be counted. She then checked with the warden at Van Sickle and discovered that the absentee ballots had already been fed into the voting machine. "At this time, it has been counted," she said.

Calls to the Scott Brown and Martha Coakley campaigns seeking official comment were not returned prior to filing this story. An employee who answered the phone at Secretary of State William Galvin's office was aware of what happened at Van Sickle, and said the office was looking into it, but passed on an inquiry about the matter to spokesman Brian McNiff. He said he did not know about the situation and said he would call back once he obtained more information, but had not prior to the filing of this report.



Comments

[Thom]

At a minimum, a poll worker should have challenged the ballot before it was opened, and it should have been put aside as a challenged ballot. The entire arguement about her death being "hearsay" is a smoke screen. This is how ALL challenged and questioned ballots should be handled unti resolved.

[Rowland]

Seems a little petty to disenfranchise someone for dying shortly after voting. I very doubt she planned it that way.

I'd rather save the outrage for REAL vote fraud. And anyway the election went the right way. Let's be gracious in victory.

[Tim Oliver]

Rowland,according to the story,she passed away before the actual voting took place.This may seem petty,but I think all vote fraud should be eliminated,whenever and wherever,possible.It is the easiest way to discourage it before it begins.

Any vote fraud,is real vote fraud.I realize this situation may seem like we are reaching a bit,but we must remain consistent,and resolute,in our fight against vote fraud.The law/laws need to be crystal clear on this issue.

[Rick Barnes]

Rowland, I think you are missing the key point here. The officials where questioned because it came to light that she was dead and despite it clearly saying in the law that he vote shouldn't have counted they allowed it anyway.

Selective enforcement of election laws should NEVER be tolerated because it opens the door for other violations. If you create an election contest and establish the rules for the contest then you must follow the rules or they become meaningless.

[Able]

Ya well they looked at the vote and wanted it to count no doubt for Coakley. There is no honor among socialists. I am libertarian so the only benefit to Brown's election is that it will slow down the immoral and unconstitutional activities of the US government. Wake up and recognize the false left/right dichotomy. Those who rule do not care which of the puppets you chose!

[Rowland]

Okay everybody. Rule of law is very important. But as a practical matter, we have to tackle the big crimes before sweating the small stuff. "Having solved all other problems..." as they say on Fark.com.

So I say as soon as we've got all of ACORN in the pokey, we can and should devote our attention to incidents like this. Fair enough?