My memories are vague, but I recall it was something like the deadline had passed to change names on the ballot, but some RAT judge overruled that and let the RATs put her name on the ballot anyway. If it had been a Republican candidate, they would have forced him/her to run as a write-in candidate.
https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=103
No, the Widder “Jean” Carnahan was not elected, nor on the ballot, she was appointed by outgoing Gov. Roger Wilson (who succeeded to the job upon Mel’s death in Oct 2000).
Missouri election law was clear: a nominee must be a resident of the state in which they are running at the time of the election. Mel Carnahan was dead by the election, he was no longer residing in Missouri (he was either residing in heaven or hades, God’s judgment, but NOT Missouri). By that reckoning, his name should’ve been removed from the ballot, and only the name of John Ashcroft and any other 3rd party candidates remain.
I don’t know what the procedure was for write-ins, but if that was legally acceptable, the Democrats would then direct their supporters to write in Jean (not Mel) Carnahan, in which case, she’d have then been elected to the full 6-year term. If she had won in that manner, it should’ve been legal.
This was yet another example of the Republicans being gutless and not challenging a fraudulent election (along with Mary Landrieu & Loretta Sanchez in 1996).