Gephardt: If You Die Or Move Before Election Day, Does Your Ballot Still Count?

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utahns have been voting by mail for weeks, and it is very likely that some of those mail-in ballots have been cast by people who have either moved or died.

So what happens to the ballots of somebody who has voted and then moved away or died before Election Day?

More than 1 million Utahns have already voted. Statistically, the possibility of someone casting their ballot but then dying before Nov. 3, is almost certain to happen.

According to the most recent U.S. Census data, close to 50 Utahns die every day. So what does happen to their ballots if they’re already in the mail?

“It’s considered good,” said Lannie Chapman, Salt Lake County’s chief deputy clerk.

She said the way Utah’s voting law is set up, all votes cast during the voting window will be counted, even if the person is gone by Election Day.

And gone doesn’t just mean death. Sometimes people vote and then move. Chapman explained the same rules apply.

“When you get your ballot, that’s where you vote,” she said. “You vote that time we started sending ballots out on Oct. 13. If you voted Oct. 14, and that’s where you live, that was your primary residence. That ballot is perfectly acceptable.”

What is not perfectly acceptable: casting your ballot, moving, then showing up to vote again with your new address.

CLARIFICATION: 1 Million is about a third of the state’s TOTAL population but, when you take away people who can’t vote, like kids, it’s more than half of Utah’s 1,856,960 eligible voters. #vote @KSL5TV https://t.co/Wb7G7zzpp1

— Matt Gephardt KSL (@KslMatt) November 2, 2020

“You cannot vote twice. You can only vote once per election,” said Chapman.

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