Amidst the presidential election, two other men won their political campaigns. Florida Democrat Earl K. Wood won a 12th term as Orange County Tax Collector in Orlando, Fla. while Alabama Republican Charles Beasley won his campaign for Bibb County Commission. However, neither men will take office. According to NBC News, “Wood died on Oct. 15 from natural causes at age 96,” and “Beasley, 77, died on Oct. 12, possibly due to an aneurysm.” Despite being dead long before Election Day, both men defeated their opponents.
First of all, I do not now how something like this could happen. I would think someone within those few weeks before the election would notice that Wood and Beasley were gone. Somebody had to have looked for them and found their bodies. Also, after discovering the bodies, I would assume that both men would be disqualified or taken off the ballot, but apparently that is not the case.
Another trend I found disturbing is that despite being dead, both men received votes. Their opponents, who are alive, still lost to them. How embarrassing is it to lose to a corpse? I do not know much about their opponents, but if you lose to a dead man in an election, you must have done something wrong.
Of course, Walter Sansing, Beasley’s opponent, does bring up a good point. According to Reuters, “He (Sansing) blames people voting straight Republican tickets for his loss.” This is an alarming practice in America. For some voters, it does not matter if a person’s opinion on a certain issue does not match yours as long as that candidate is from your party. This is a terrible habit.
First of all, by participating in this practice, you are pretty much saying, “I have no individual identity outside of my political party.” It is okay if you do identify yourself as a Republican or Democrat or some other political party, but by using that party as your only means of self-identification causes your voice to get lost in the crowd. You become a faceless being in a sea of faceless beings. You should not be afraid to speak up if you do not agree with your party because you can call attention to an alternative plan, such as, “Hey, let’s not vote for the dead guy because using a Ouija board to communicate is impractical.” Also, voting solely because a person identifies with the same political party as you is lazy. It shows that you could not put in the effort to make decisions on your own on how the county, state or country should be run. Deciding the laws of your country is not something to be done in such a shoddy manner.
It is also frightening when you consider that Orange County in Orlando and Bibb County technically decided that a dead person would be a better leader than the living alternative, whether they meant to or not. Despite whatever views you have on life after death, neither Wood nor Beasley could perform their duties after dying and the jobs they have cannot be ignored. The other candidate may not be the public’s first choice, but at least the job will be done.
Of course, due to both Wood and Beasley being dead, they will not hold office. Reuters reports, “In Orlando, Scott Randolph, an outgoing Democratic legislator and state party activist, was selected by his party to receive votes cast for Wood and he will assume the office. In Alabama, the governor will appoint a new commissioner with input from local Republicans.” Still, being able to vote for a dead person could make quite the statement. Perhaps in the next presidential election, we’ll see votes cast for George Washington, Ghandi or Martin Luther King Jr. Going even further, what if someone could perform a séance and communicate with Wood, Beasley or some other deceased political figure? If we talk to political figures of the past, they may not be in favor of the progress our country has made, such as gay marriage, women leading businesses or minorities being allowed to vote. As far as I know, something like this has yet to happen. We must not let party pride stop the country from functioning. People may die, but we should not live in the past.
Jake Koniszewski can be reached at john.koniszewski@spartans.ut.edu