Dead wrong

Restating some famous observations of Edmund Burke in connection with the French Revolution, G. K. Chesterton argued that we must “give votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors” because, he insisted, tradition is “the democracy of the dead.” Chicago’s Mayor Daley made himself a legend perfecting the extension of the franchise to the dead for reasons other than a decent respect for traditon.
The spirit of Mayor Daley has resurfaced in the state of Washington, where the evidence that the deceased of King County voted in the state’s gubernatorial election is now undisputed: “Dead voted in governor’s race.” Yesterday Dino Rossi filed a lawsuit contesting the result and asking for a revote (click here for the Seattle Times story). Follow the story at the invaluable Sound Politics.

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