You are a patriotic citizen and expect to be out of state when it is time to cast your vote in November. Being responsible, you complete and mail your absentee ballot as soon as it is allowed. Shortly thereafter, you die in a car crash. Does your vote count? It was sent within the allowed time period, but on the day it counts, you're dead. This could easily be the case for our young soldiers in foreign combat zones. Would their vote count? Hmmmm?
The vote counts. Logically it may seem confusing but it is actually very straight forward. The person was alive at the time of his/her voting and his/her intent was very clear in who they were voting for. By law the only factors in deciding votes are: Is the intent clear, and was the ballot sent in and counted on time? All these factors are met by the question, and because the person was alive and registered at the time of their voting, it can't be argued a dead person can't vote because they were alive when the act took place. It's a bit like the concept of how if smoking is suddenly a crime in 2010, you can't arrest and charge someone who smoked in 2009. I don't remember what it's called but the act was not illegal at the time it was committed and that person can't be held accountable for it. Likewise, if the person is alive at the time of voting the vote counts, because the actual election takes place during voting, not during the counting. If someone is alive to vote but dead by the time of counting the vote still counts because they had voted during the actual election and just didn't live long enough to see the results. EDIT: Although, if one commits suicide, it could be argued the vote shouldn't count because they willingly removed themselves from the world in comparison to an accident, murder, or death in combat (all of which are unpredictable and unforseable, and for the alter in my opinion being KIA is absolutely chaotic). But then again, that is such an arbitrary standard it's impossible to enforce without drastically slowing the election process and finding the vote so one and so forth. In the end all that matters is if the person was alive at the time of voting the vote counts.
