French woman denied vote because she ‘was dead’
A French woman from the Lot-et-Garonne (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) who tried to vote in person in the recent European elections was told she could not do so, because records showed she had died.
The 95-year-old woman, a resident of Nérac, was forced to re-register as a voter on the electoral roll after officials told her that they could not find her on the commune list.
She joked: “I hope I’m not dead, in your computer!”
But, after checking the computer records, the election manager present then said: “Contrary to appearances, you unfortunately appear to have died on December 14, 2017.”
The elderly woman reportedly laughed and said: “Oh well, they will build Europe without me. I did not think I would have to re-register myself on the electoral roll at the age of 95!”
Eyewitness and Nérac mayor, Nicolas Lacombe, told the story on Facebook shortly after the elections that took place on Sunday May 26.
There will now be a local investigation into how the mistake could have happened.
The nonagenarian was sadly not the only one who encountered problems voting.
Hundreds of people in France reported that their postal ballot papers did not show up in time for the elections, prompting the British in Europe (BiE) campaign coalition to consider mounting a “#DeniedMyVote” human rights case on behalf of Britons who were not able to vote.
