You are ignoring the multiple precedents of already dead people finishing first in an election, all of which (as far as I know) resulting in the dead person being declared the winner and a vacancy being declared. Besides the congressional examples that I provided, it has happened many times at other levels. Being unqualified for office means that one may not take the seat, not that the votes that one receives don’t count.
And neither the U.S. Constitution nor federal law require that candidates on the ballot be constitutionally qualified for the office. Yes, Article I requires that a Senator have been an inhabitant, on Election Day, of the state that he represents, but that us a requirement *to hold the Senate seat* (not to appear on the ballot), and the entity entrusted to enforce such requirement—the U.S. Senate, which is the “judge of the qualifications of its Members”—can only enforce the requirement by judging the Senator-elect unqualified and thus excluding him from the Senate. Each state has its own rules for ballot access, and some states even permit persons who admittedly are not natural-born citizens (or even U.S. citizens)’ to appear on the ballot as presidential candidates; you may recall that, in 2004 and 2008, the Socialist Workers Party nominated Roger Calero, a Nicaraguan immigrant who was a U.S. permanent resident but not a U.S. citizen (much less a natural-born citizen), as its candidate for president, and Calero appeared on the ballot in dozens of states (nine states did exclude those who aren’t NBCs, and Calero was replaced on the ballot in those states by James Harris).
I’m not ignoring deceased individuals “winning” races, only that (with respect to federal races), that this be a disqualifier based on failure to meet residency requirements. We have strict requirements in TN based on this, and said votes DO NOT count, because the person is immediately removed from the ballot. It might not be fair to a given party, but it’s how it is. After all, the write-in option kept the murderer of the incumbent State Senator, the sole candidate in the race at that point, from winning the election.
As I also said, Republicans in 2001 should’ve vigorously contested the illegality and illegitimacy of the MO race and the appointment. But they refused to do it and let this individual occupy the seat for 2 years at the expense of their majority.
As for the example of the Socialist Workers Party candidate, he should’ve been summarily disqualified from the ballot.