We are less than a week out from the climax of the 2016 Presidential Election meaning that soon we will no longer have to obsessively check FiveThirtyEight every hour (Team Polls-Only!). Sweet release, come!

There is still much drama to endure, like, you may have heard it said that this election is “rigged.” Rigged! In recent weeks one candidate in particular has been attempting to stoke fears that this election could be stolen via voter fraud. It won’t be.

Nevertheless, said candidate continues broadcasting paranoia by, for example, perpetuating a myth that “people that have died 10 years ago are still voting.” He does not mean actual zombies, of course, but sneaky folks who are showing up at the polls and voting on behalf of the still-registered deceased. Or maybe he means actual zombies.  

Either way this is dumb. The allegation is rooted in a willful misreading of a Pew Charitable Trust report that states that “approximately 24 million — one of every eight — voter registrations in the United States are no longer valid or are significantly inaccurate” and that “more than 1.8 million deceased individuals are listed as voters.” But while the study argues that the American voter registration system is in bad need of an upgrade it does not argue that voter fraud is rampant. Yes, there are people on the rolls that should no longer be, but, as FactCheck.org points out, there is no evidence that a significant number of those 1.8 million voters registrations are being utilized by dishonest living folk. 

But it’s true that some people who are no longer with us are voting in the 2016 race. A VICE article published this week asks the question “What Happens if You Vote and Die Before Election Day?” The short answer to that question: it varies, mostly by which state you live in (more here).

Of local interest though: VICE wraps their article by referencing an obituary that appeared in the Times-Standard last month. 96-year-old Vivian Ziegler passed away in Arcata on Oct. 18, but not before casting an absentee ballot for the likely first female President in United States history. From Vivian’s obit: 

[Vivian and her husband] shared an active passion for Democratic politics throughout their lives, and Vivian fondly remembers seeing President Roosevelt in Colorado Springs in 1942 - voting for him as her first vote, and some 50 years later she also met President Clinton at the White House. She cast her last vote for Hillary Clinton.

And, locally at least, that’s allowed! As the Humboldt County elections office told VICE, “as long as it’s in our office [by Election Day], it counts.”

Living Americans have six more days to participate in democracy.