WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — Wake County elections officials voted Friday to count the ballots of three dead people, acknowledging that their actions went against the state’s long-standing interpretation of what to do when someone votes early but then dies before Election Day.
The decision happened as Wake officials were finalizing the county’s vote tallies for the 2024 election.
The state’s largest county by population had 45 people who legally cast a ballot during early voting but then died before Election Day. State or county officials flagged their ballots after they died. On Friday, the Wake County Board of Elections voted to throw out 42 of those ballots but accept three of them.
The three ballots Wake County elections officials chose to accept were from deceased voters whose family members or representatives came to the board meeting Friday to plead for their loved ones’ votes to be counted. One of the deceased voters was an 18-year-old woman who was participating in her first election but died from cancer just before Election Day, said Greg Flynn, one of the Wake County elections officials who voted to count her ballot.
The three voters were Daniela Smith-Davis of Garner, Michael Talbot of Rolesville and Wilfred Shea of Raleigh.
