Yep, but in Replican counties, the rules get applied....my Dad died at the end of August last year and since he and Mom were on "permanent absentee/mail vote" status, it didn't take long -- because we had a November election -- to find that he was off the rolls.
I'd have been rather pissed off if the registrar had indeed sent him a ballot (even tho I might have been slightly tempted to let him pull the lever one final time....)
My mom had an absentee ballot in 2004. She filled it out and mailed it in; then got sick two weeks later and died within three days of the election. I didn’t contact officials — figured she was alive when she voted and that was good enough.