{
  "id": "RL31338",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31338",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 104508,
      "date": "2002-03-20",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:13:20.828941",
      "title": "Disqualification, Death, or Ineligibility of the Winner of a Congressional Election",
      "summary": "On several occasions, including a Senate race in 2000, a congressional candidate on the ballot for\nthe\ngeneral election has died within such proximity to election day that there was not sufficient time under\nState election-administration procedures to change the ballot and substitute another candidate. \nLeaving the name of a deceased candidate on the ballot has raised questions and criticisms in some\nquarters concerning State authority to issue a \"final\" ballot and to decline to add or substitute other\ncandidates at some point prior to an election; whether votes for the deceased candidate are \"legal,\"\nor rather, should not be counted, since the deceased candidate is not \"qualified\" to serve in the office;\nand whether a \"vacancy\" in the office can be created, in effect, prospectively, when and if the\nineligible candidate receives the most votes, or whether a new \"special election\" must proceed\nimmediately.\n  Under the States' constitutional \"Times, Places and Manner\" authority over federal elections,\nthe States may establish ballot procedures and administrative requirements. Courts have noted that\nStates have a \"compelling\" interest in setting deadlines and in finalizing the ballot \"so that general\nelection ballots can be properly and timely prepared and distributed,\" and have thus found that there\nis no legal or constitutional problem with a State \"finalizing\" its ballot and refusing to withdraw, add\nor substitute names on the ballot within a reasonable time-frame prior to an election. Such State\ndeadlines for finalizing the ballot are not only common, but are seen as absolute administrative\nnecessities for orderly elections, and for the prevention of disenfranchisement of military and other\nabsentee voters.\n  With ballot deadlines a common administrative requirement in the States, it is not unprecedented\nfor a candidate to die in such proximity to an election that the ballots have been finalized, resulting\nin the deceased candidate's name remaining on the ballot for the election. Under the majority\n\"American Rule,\" followed in most of the States for their non-federal offices, and expressly adopted\nby both the House and the Senate for judging the elections of their own Members to Congress, votes\nfor the deceased candidate are not illegal, improper, or \"thrown away\" (such that the second-place\nvote-getter is elected), nor are the elections ignored and considered non-events; rather, a \"win\" by\nthe deceased candidate creates, and is generally considered an indication of the voters' preference for,\na temporary \"vacancy\" in the office.\n  Under the Constitution, vacancies in the House are filled by the issuance of \"writs of election\"\nby the Governor of the State for a special election. For vacancies in the Senate, however, the\nSeventeenth Amendment instructs the Governor of the State to issue writs of election but, in the\nalternative, the Governor, if authorized by State law, may make a \"temporary appointment\" until a\nlater election to fill the remainder of the term, as directed by the State legislature. The Seventeenth\nAmendment, its history, and express judicial interpretation indicate that the States have discretionary\nauthority to provide for a temporary appointment of a Senator by the Governor until a future election,\nsuch as a regularly scheduled state-wide election, and that the States are  not  required to\nhold a more\nimmediate \"special election\" to fill a Senate vacancy, regardless of when the vacancy arises.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL31338",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "Constitutional Questions"
  ]
}