Just In Time For Halloween, Record Number of the Dead Are Voting

Ebenezer Wiley is making his way through the unplowed streets from Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery to City Hall to vote on Thursday afternoon, just before the precinct closes. "I figured I'd get up a little early this year for Halloween so I can go perform my civic duty before I go hide behind trees and let people briefly see me," he said as he navigated a giant snow berm blocking the sidewalk. "It's a tradition!"

Wiley said the trend of his fellow undead participating in elections really started to ramp up in

the wake of the 2016 election. "We felt that if we'd been more engaged, we could have tilted the outcome towards Hillary. We feel partially responsible for how scary the next four years were but we're better organized now and are mobilizing to make sure our staticy voice is heard."

Until relatively recently, deceased voters would historically only vote in specific cities that leaned Democrat such as Detroit and Baltimore. But that trend started to change nationally in 2008 when Barack Obama ran for President and dead people turned out in droves, hoping for real change. The trend continued its upward trajectory again in 2012 when Obama beat Republican challenger Mitt Romney. There was a dip in 2016, and then a surge in 2020. Dead persons voting experts are expecting a record number of undead to vote this election and they could be an important demographic in deciding the outcome of the presidential race, even though no candidate has sought the endorsement of the group.

"We are not a monolith," said Wiley slowly, in chorus with about 60 others emerging from the cemetery.