Dead woman wins election in California

** I just had to post this.... unbelievable , leave to the people of California

Dead woman wins election in California: Jenny Oropeza died Oct. 20 but trounced her opponent anyway

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopo...ropeza-jpg.jpg
Jenny Oropeza died on Oct. 20, but that didn't stop her from winning a seat on the California state Senate.
(via Facebook)

Jenny Oropeza trounced her opponent on Tuesday in a race for California's state Senate, but she won't be reaping the rewards of her win.

That's because she died two weeks before the election.

Oropeza passed away on Oct. 20 "after a lengthy illness," according to her website. She had reportedly been fighting cancer for years, and suffered from a blood clot last month that caused her to miss a budget vote.

Her death fell too close to Election Day for her to be replaced on the ballot in Long Beach's 28th Senate District, but rather than forfeit the race to her Republican opponent, Democrats lobbied voters to choose Oropeza anyway.

An Oropeza victory would likely force California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare the seat empty, necessitating a special election to replace her.

In direct mailers sent to voters in the runup to the election, Democrats invoked sympathy for her illness, but did not explicitly say she had died.

"Senator Jenny Oropeza's illness has been a tragedy," Democratic Party general counsel Martha Escutia wrote in one of the mailers, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Her strength through her struggle inspired us all."

Republicans cried foul, arguing that Democrats weren't being clear with voters about their intent to force a special election.

Jason Kinney, a spokesman for Senate Democrats, defended the Party's tactics.

"Given the tragic and highly unusual circumstances of this race, Senate Democrats felt an obligation to directly communicate to voters in Senator Oropeza's district that voting for Senator Oropeza on Tuesday was the best way to ensure they ultimately have a real, meaningful choice about who will serve them in the

Senate for the next four years," he told the Times.

Voters ultimately chose the deceased candidate by an overwhelming margin.

Oropeza sailed to victory, with 58% of the vote against Republican John Stammreich, who took 36%.

A special election likely will be held in the next three or four months.

While Oropeza's win is unusual, it is not the first of its kind.

In 2000, Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan was killed in a plane crash just weeks before the election. It was too late to remove his name from the ballot, so when he won the race, his wife Jean was appointed to his seat.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/poli...ticle-1.450425