Jimmy Carter's Absentee Ballot: What Happens If He Passes Before Election Day?

Former President Jimmy Carter made headlines this week after his grandson confirmed he cast an absentee ballot in Georgia for the 2024 U.S. election. The news begs a particular, if somewhat crass, question in this era of early voting: what happens if Carter, who turned 100 this month, dies before Election Day? Would his vote count?

Georgia law doesn't explicitly state whether absentee ballots are counted if the voter passes away before Election Day. However, the Georgia Secretary of State's office has clarified that it accepts ballots in such cases. According to a spokesperson for the office, "An absentee by mail ballot has been cast the moment the voter mails it. If the voter dies after mailing their ballot, but before Election Day, their vote will still count."

The reason for this acceptance likely stems from how election administration operates in the state. Georgia has around two weeks of ballot pre-processing, which allows election workers to begin processing ballots before Election Day. As Andrew Garber, counsel on the Voting Rights and Elections team at the Brennan Center for Justice, noted, "By the time Election Day rolls around, all the mail ballots that were sent in have been pre-processed and removed from their sealed envelopes." This process ensures that election workers can no longer identify which ballot came in when, thus protecting the voter's privacy.

Georgia also has a "challenge law" that allows individuals to challenge an absentee ballot before 5:00 p.m. on the day prior to scanning and tabulation. If someone dies after voting absentee and becomes the subject of a challenge, this could potentially invalidate their vote, according to a representative for Fair Fight Action, a Georgia-based voting rights organization.

Early voting in Georgia kicked off recently, with a record number of ballots — 415,688 — cast on the first day. Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter's grandson and the chairman of the Carter Center, confirmed that the former president's absentee ballot was dropped off in a dropbox. This action fulfilled Carter's wish to live long enough to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.

The rules governing the counting of absentee ballots in the event of a voter's death before Election Day vary by state. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, ten states have laws explicitly allowing absentee ballots to be counted if the person who cast them dies. Connecticut allows it only if the deceased was a member of the armed services. In contrast, nine states, including crucial battlegrounds like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, have laws prohibiting counting an absentee ballot if the voter dies before Election Day.