CLAIM: Pennsylvania reelected state Rep. Tony DeLuca, who is dead, which is suggestive of shoddy elections or cheating.
AP鈥橲 ASSESSMENT: Missing context. DeLuca, 85, died a month before Tuesday鈥檚 midterm elections. State law stipulates that substitutes, in the case of the death of a candidate, cannot be submitted after ballots have started printing 鈥� late September, in this case. A special election will be held to fill his seat.
THE FACTS: As of Wednesday afternoon, DeLuca had received nearly 86% of the vote, according to , beating Green Party candidate Queonia 鈥淶arah鈥� Livingston.
Some social media posts, however, are suggesting the election of a deceased candidate is indicative of shoddy elections or even fraud.
鈥淵ou got dead people voting and dead people winning鈥︹�� reads one tweet, which was then followed by a screenshot of a headline about DeLuca鈥檚 reelection. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 make this up, America鈥檚 elections are a hot mess.鈥�
Another user on Twitter responded to the news by stating: 鈥淓xactly what happens when massive amounts of fake ballots blindly checking democrats are received. No other explanation in Pennsylvania.鈥�
DeLuca was an Allegheny County Democrat who represented the state鈥檚 32nd Legislative District for 39 years. He Oct. 9, with less than a month to go before the election.
If a candidate dies, Pennsylvania only allows replacement candidates to be submitted if ballots have not yet started printing.
In Allegheny County, officials sent data for the ballots to the printer on Sept. 28, county spokesperson Amie Downs told The Associated Press.
鈥淭he state has an election calendar that outlines dates for withdrawals, substitutions, etc. and all of those dates had passed when the Representative died,鈥� Downs wrote in an email. 鈥淭his is not the first time this has happened either.鈥�
Trevor Southerland, executive director of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee, told the AP that 鈥渦nder Pennsylvania law, there was no way to remove Rep. DeLuca from the ballot." He also said the deadline is when ballots begin printing.
Southerland confirmed that DeLuca鈥檚 win simply means that the seat will be vacant until a special election is held. The date of that election has yet to be determined.
鈥淲hile we鈥檙e incredibly saddened by the loss of Representative Tony DeLuca, we are proud to see the voters to continue to show their confidence in him and his commitment to Democratic values by re-electing him posthumously,鈥� the committee wrote in a . 鈥淎 special election will follow soon.鈥�
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This is part of AP鈥檚 effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. .
Angelo Fichera And Graph Massara, The Associated Press
