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Rumor: Votes are being cast on behalf of dead people, and these votes are being counted.
Reality: Voter registration list maintenance and other election integrity measures protect against voting illegally on behalf of deceased individuals.
“Dead voters” is just one of the (many) conspiracy theories swirling around suggesting there was voter fraud in Joe Biden’s election as president. But we don’t need to roll Scooby-Doo and the gang out to find these ghost voters. States have always kept this from happening, by maintaining registration lists.
CNN dug into 50 names that the Trump folks are pointing to as evidence of dead people voting in Michigan.
The upshot: 37 were dead and didn’t vote. 5 are alive and did vote. 8 are alive but didn’t vote. @CNN https://t.co/CjtjwIxSkC
— Jessica Silver-Greenberg 🕵🏻♀️ (@jbsgreenberg) November 11, 2020
Election officials use death records from state vital statistics agencies and the Social Security Administration. If the short lag time between a person’s death and their removal from the voter registration list coincides with an election, a mail-in ballot could be sent to the addresses of the recently deceased. But the states and SSA death records would create an audit trail, showing any illegal attempts to cast ballots on behalf of the dead. This is not any US state’s first rodeo. Each state conducts regular voting oversight, including in this most recent election.
Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20, 2021. But it’s not because 50 dead people voted for him. It’s because 78 million live people did.
