Buy Photo Fall colors make a splash and dramatic backdrop to veteran's graves at Crown Hill Cemetery Wednesday, October 22, 2014. (Photo: Mike Fender / The Star)Buy Photo 
 
 Someone who casts an absentee ballot but dies before Election Day would still have their vote count under a proposal being considered by Indiana lawmakers. 
 
 The provision is part of a bill that the House Elections Committee took up Wednesday. 
 
 Rep. Matt Pierce of Bloomington told members about how disappointed he was when former U.S. Rep. Frank McCloskey's absentee vote that he cast while fighting cancer didn't count because he died before Election Day in 2004. 
 
 Pierce said that only some county clerks actively check for deaths of absentee voters. 
 
 Indiana Election Division co-director Brad King says allowing such votes could violate a state constitutional requirement that a voter live in a precinct for 30 days before an election. 
 
 The committee plans more review before acting on the proposal. 
 
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– Just because your heart's not beating shouldn't mean your vote doesn't count, according to lawmakers in Indiana. The House Elections Committee in the state is considering changing a law that nullifies absentee ballots cast by voters who die before Election Day, reports the AP. Rep. Matt Pierce told the committee he was moved by the situation of former US Rep. Frank McCloskey, who made a point of casting an absentee ballot while battling cancer but died days before Election Day in 2003. McCloskey knew the value of a vote: After a recount following the 1984 election, the Democrat was declared the winner by just four votes. But while the proposal might sound odd, it would actually give dead Hoosiers the same voting rights as most other dead Americans. According to the Bloomington Herald-Times, Indiana is one of only three states with a "dead voter" law, which requires county clerks to check absentee ballots for recent deaths and has been blamed for election night delays. At a legislative forum last month, state Rep. Peggy Mayfield, a Republican, recalls that when she was serving as a county clerk, a man woke up from a coma and wanted to vote. He was given an absentee ballot but died the day before Election Day. "It's sad," says Mayfield, who isn't opposed to changing the law.