LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On Tuesday, Former President Jimmy Carter became the first US President to live a century. His son, Jason Carter, said his dad is looking forward to his birthday and voting for Vice President Kamala Harris in the November election.
But what happens if the former president, who's been in hospice care since 2023, doesn't live until Election Day.
The answer varies state-by-state.
Some states allow counting ballots cast by voters who die before Election Day, while other states ban counting deceased voters’ ballots.
More than half of states don’t have any official rules.
According to The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) "As a practical matter, it is hard to retrieve ballots from people who have died between casting their votes and Election Day. Once the absentee ballot has been verified and removed from the envelope for counting, the ballot cannot be retraced to the voter."
They say it's only possible to "catch the ballot" when it is still in its return envelope, and only in cases where election officials have received notice of the death.
Kentucky and Mississippi are the only two states who prohibit counting deceased voters’ ballots through attorneys general opinions, rather than through statute. This means there isn’t an official law but a previous attorney general opinion is being upheld in the state.
The NCSL says nine states have statutes that explicitly permit counting ballots cast by voters who die before Election Day, while 10 states have statutes that explicitly prohibit counting deceased voters’ ballots.
Three states have different rules, while the remaining 28 states and Washington, D.C. do not have any officials rules on this issue, the NCSL says.
