AMERICAN LEAGUE
Thursday’s Games
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An Age Of Dancing

LEHMAN TWP. &ndash; John Peter Farrell died 27 days before the primary election, yet managed to get one-quarter of the vote Tuesday.
 Why?
 Wilkes University political science professor Tom Baldino said such cases stem from voter inattention, sentimental support for well-liked public servants, and sometimes calculated political manipulation &ndash; by both parties. 
Farrell, an incumbent, was one of three candidates who cross-filed to run on both parties&rsquo; ballots for two available seats in Region 3 of the Lake-Lehman School District. His death occurred after voting machines had been programmed and his name couldn&rsquo;t be removed from the ballot. According to unofficial results, a total of 1,317 votes were cast, and Farrell garnered 325.
In some cases, Baldino said, people deliberately give a deceased candidate their vote &ldquo;as a kind of tribute to the person, especially if the individual was popular.&rdquo; After his unexpected death, Farrell received praise from many friends, family members and co-workers.
Of course, Baldino added, such votes may also be a measure of &ldquo;how inattentive the electorate is.&rdquo; People may simply not have read or heard of the death.
But there have been times where political parties attempted to capitalize on such tragedy. Baldino cited the famous case of U.S. Rep. William Barrett, a south Philadelphia politician who died in 1976 while running for re-election. Barrett had served 28 years in office and developed a popular reputation for constituent service. The Democratic Party decided to keep his name on the ballot even though he had died early enough to be replaced. 
&ldquo;They assumed he would win the general election,&rdquo; Baldino said, which he did. When the state called for a special election a few months later, the party had a handpicked replacement to put on the ballot. There was no time for anyone to mount a significant challenge.
That replacement won. His name: Michael Myers, who gained notoriety when he was caught on film taking money from FBI agents masquerading as sheiks in the &ldquo;ABSCAM&rdquo; sting.
It&rsquo;s not just the party of the dead candidate that&rsquo;s willing to manipulate, though. Baldino recalled a state House race that involved a Democrat who died too late to be removed from the ballot. &ldquo;The party mounted a write-in campaign to get another endorsed candidate elected,&rdquo; Baldino said. &ldquo;What I remember about this is that the Republicans mounted a campaign to get people to cast votes for the deceased candidate.&rdquo;
The GOP hoped to split the Democratic vote and increase odds for its own candidate.

Voting For The Dead Often Political Ploy