GREENSBORO, N.C. —
I went to go vote today and got my sticker and all, but there was something on my ballot I had never seen before. It was the name of a candidate that had died.
Stanley M. Elrod, a Republican candidate for the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Board of Education, was still on the ballot even though he died more than a week ago.
“According to state law, in the event, a candidate passes away during the election and since absentee by mail ballots have already been sent out and we only have a few days left in early voting, his name will remain on the ballot, there's not enough time to reprint ballots,” said Tim Tsujii, the Forsyth County Board of Elections Director.
I asked the Board of Elections Director how many times he's seen this happen in his career. His answer? It's the first time.
So, what happens if you vote for Stan Elrod? Can he win the seat? The Forsyth County GOP released a statement. It says in part:
We encourage voters to express their love and support for stan by rewarding him with victory posthumously. In the event of his winning, The FCGOP will exercise due diligence in selecting someone.
Which the Forsyth County GOP did. All votes for Stan Elrod will go to candidate Susan Miller.
If Mr. Elrod had lived and won the seat and was actually on the School Board, the GOP would not have been the entity to name his replacement, it would have been the School Board.
Again, this sort of thing is relatively rare, and what elections officials really want you to concentrate on is voting.
“We encourage voters to take advantage of today, tomorrow and Saturday and get out and vote when it's convenient,” said Tsujii.