Carolyn Guckert: Voting and dying

The Nov. 21 Under the Dome item “Early voters who die before Election Day are not counted” noted that if an early voter dies before Election Day, that vote does not count because qualifications were not met on Election Day. Seems if someone had the impertinence to die after voting, tough luck, ma’am!

Upon reading this news, I thought of the 90-year-old Oregon woman in hospice who was so happy to live long enough to vote for the first woman running for president. She died a few days before the election, but Oregon law thankfully allows her vote to count. Who knew that North Carolina had found yet another way to suppress votes?

I wonder about the voters standing in line with me for 11 1/2 hours on Nov. 3. Did they know about this law? I sure hope none died afterward, as many were excited to be there casting a vote, clueless that it might not count.

Did anyone have a relative or friend who voted early (including absentee) and then foolishly died before Election Day, making that vote null and void? In fairness, the article stated that the House voted unanimously in 2014 to change this law, but the Senate never allowed a vote. Really, North Carolina? Shame on us.

This story was originally published November 26, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Carolyn Guckert: Voting and dying."