'You're Dead to Us': Federal Government to Michigan Man

A Michigan man may have felt a bit like Mark Twain when he tried to cast his ballot in the midterm election earlier this month:

Reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated.

Dale Hopfinger told WNEM-TV that poll workers told him he was dead when he showed to vote in Lee Township in Allegan County, and had been since Sept. 25.

The poll worker said “No he’s deceased, so he can’t vote,” Hopfinger told the TV station.

Standing before them breathing and very much alive, the Midland man produced his driver’s license. It took some more persuasion and he was finally able to vote, but the snafu over his “death” has caused some other problems.

For one thing, he was unable to cosign his daughter’s loan for a new car.

In a followup story, WNEM-TV learned Hopfinger is dead to the entire federal government, likely because of a simple typing error that tied his Social Security number to that of someone who actually is dead.

Hopfinger planned to meet Friday with Social Security Administration officials, who reportedly promised he could be brought back to the world of the living by presenting a current photo identification, such as a driver’s license.

“Just hope it can be fixed that easily,” Hopfinger said. “It sounds like it can. You know that’s just all I was hoping for, something simple and not have to get a lawyer involved or anything like that. Or it costs a bunch of money to straighten stuff out.”

According to a comment on the original story, Hopfinger isn’t alone in being caught between the worlds of the dead and the living.

A man named James Oliver commented that he was declared dead about five years ago, and it took him about a year to re-start his Social Security and military retirement benefits, even with the help of his local chief of police, county sheriff and U.S. congressman.

“... It was very hard to survive,” Oliver wrote.

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Screenshot: WNEM-TV via YouTube