Voting by dead people generally involves a crime.  How about voting for dead people?  Generally not.  How about when the official supposedly in charge of clean elections sends out an official-looking mailer urging people to vote for the dead (right around Halloween, BTW)?

Voters in the Long Beach area of Los Angeles County received this mailer recently.  In large, all-caps print it says "IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE."  The fine print is not legible on this scanned image.  Torey Van Oot reports in the SacBee that it is "a disclosure that it was paid for by the Democratic Party."  The text of the letter says,

You have a right to know how the tragedy of Senator Jenny Oropeza's illness impacts your Election Day choice.

Jenny Oropeza's name is on the ballot. You have the right to vote for her.

If you do, and she wins, there will be a Special Election called. You will then be able to thoughtfully consider who will represent you in the Senate for the next four years.

Debra Bowen
Secretary of State

Senator Oropeza is not "ill."  She is deceased.  Okay, put that down to a euphemism.  This is still a misleading mailer, dummied up to look like official business at first blush and only disclosed as a partisan piece in the fine print.  Is it a crime?  An election law expert I consulted thinks so.  Will it be prosecuted?  Probably not.