Michigan uses death data from the Social Security Administration Master Death Index to regularly remove the names of individuals who are deceased from the Qualified Voter File, a secure voter records database. Local clerks may also identify deceased individuals in their communities and remove that individual’s record.
If a living voter casts an absentee ballot prior to Election Day and the clerk learns they have died before the ballot is tabulated, the deceased voter’s ballot is rejected and will not be counted. This procedure regularly results in the rejection of thousands of ballots during statewide and federal elections.
There are safeguards in place to ensure an absentee ballot cannot be voted on behalf of another individual (deceased or otherwise), including a signature match performed on the signed absentee ballot envelope.
Learn more about election security in Michigan