US election: Dead candidate, Andahl, wins legislative seat

‌A candidate who died of coronavirus in October, David Andahl, has won a legislative seat in North Dakota.

New York Times and Washington Post reported that Andahl and Dave Nehring were elected to represent North Dakota’s eighth state house district.

Official results showed that Andahl won 36 per cent of the votes cast while Nehring won 41 per cent.

55-year-old Andahlis, who ran a Republican ticket, was a cattle rancher and land developer.

He died four days after being hospitalised for COVID-19.

“Because mail-in voting began in the state on September 18, Mr. Andahl’s name could not be removed from the ballot after his death”, North Dakota’s secretary of state, Alvin Jaeger, New York Times reports.

Washington Post said North Dakota election authorities initially had no precedent on how to address the death of a candidate so close to an election.

But North Dakota’s Attorney General, Wayne Stenehjem, clarified that if Andahl is elected to the post, the office would be deemed vacant