We have the same specification in Tennessee. If you die immediately before the election, your name is stricken from the ballot, period. Now, a particular individual recognized that and murdered his State Senator opponent. Only because it was found out immediately and a quick, bipartisan effort to write in the widow’s name saved the seat. This was the legal way to do it, but I vigorously disagree in the case of Missouri: Mel Carnahan was dead, and therefore must be stricken from the ballot. He was no longer a legal resident of the state, period. A write-in candidacy was the only legal and ethical manner in which for Jean Carnahan to have assumed the seat. There was also the added concern of voter fraud surrounding the election in Missouri, which cost not only Ashcroft his seat, but Jim Talent the Governorship. All of that should’ve been enough to deny seating Mrs. Carnahan.
If it was too late to remove Mel Carnahan’s name from the ballot under MO law, then his name stays on the ballot. I’m sure that the Democrats would have preferred to replace his name on the ballot with that of his widow (new Gov. Wilson had promised to appoint the widow if Dead Mel won, but at least some voters wouldn’t countenance voting for a dead man), but the law didn’t permit them to do so.
And in any event, Ashcroft didn’t win the election, so he could not be seated on January 3. When there’s a vacancy in a Senate seat, the Constitution permits states to empower the governor to appoint a temporary senator (to serve until an election is held), and MO law so empowered Gov. Wilson. Wilson could appoint whomever he wished, so long as he or she met the constitutional qualifications to serve in the U.S. Senate (which Jeanne Carnahan met). An unfortunate turn of events, but not an illegal, much less unconstitutional, act. Ashcroft shouldn’t have taken such a long break from campaigning after Mel died.