Imagine taking time out of your day to vote for a political candidate only to find out they’re dead. The Republican party is dealing with that problem now.

Jennifer Pace won the Republican nomination for Indiana’s 7th Congressional District on Election Day last week by nearly 8,000 votes. The problem is Pace passed away back in March due to a heart attack. Pace’s death also fell after the deadline to remove her from the ballot. You combine that with the fact that there’s a long, drawn out death documentation process, and that creates a situation where the GOP just didn’t know.

“During the primaries, folks just kind of run on their own in those races and we stay out of it. So, with most primary candidates, we have minimal interactions,” says Joe Elsener, Marion County GOP Chairman.

Despite the unique circumstances, Elsener says there are election rules established for this kind of situation.

“What we get official notification on is there is a ballot vacancy,” Elsener explains to Indy Politics, “we’ll get that after the election is officially certified, and once we get that then the party will call a caucus to replace the vacancy on the ballot and you have thirty days to do that after you’re notified.”

Democrat Congressman Andre Carson currently represents Indiana’s 7th Congressional District. He won the Democrat nomination May 7th with over 90-percent of the vote.