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Jenny Oropeza, A democrat who had served 22 years as an elected public servant, including six in the California Assembly and four more in the state Senate, defeated her Republican rival, John Stammreich, in the midterms.
However, she had passed away from a blood clot complications aged 53 in October, making it too late to amend the ballot papers.
So what happens next, how do you handle having a dead person in charge aside from the fact they might still be preferred to the opposition?
I don't know California state law. Usually the political party of the late officeholder will select a replacement between the election and the beginning of the new term; the living second-place vote-getter doesn't get the job. Probably the most famous recent example of this was the 2000 U.S. Senate race in Missouri: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Car...tion_and_death
Looks like you're in for a special election. What fun!: http://www.aolnews.com/elections/art...Clink7%7C23289
Here's CNN.com's article on the situation: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/03...in-california/
Why not just delay the election on the grounds one of the candidates will be unable to take up there position.
Does the same thing occur if a candidate winds up in jail or full criminal proceedings shortly before an election?
The ballots are preprinted and there's no good way to delay the election, since that official is being elected at the same time as everyone else. I suppose you could just not count any votes cast in that race, but apparently that's not California law.
Unless expressly prohibited by law, and it usually isn't, a candidate can be in jail or on trial before an election and still appear on the ballot. Consider James M. Curley, erstwhile Mayor of Boston (intermittently) from 1914-50: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M...ayor_of_Boston