Lots of stunning news came out of the elections that took place this week, but one story you might not have heard involves the California town of Oceanside, where city treasurer Gary Ernst was re-elected—despite the fact that he died in September.

So how did that happen? Ernst was still on the ballot due to the Election Code ("because he had died less than 68 days before the election") and "a prominent city councilman had urged voters to elect Ernst rather than challenger Nadine Scott, promising to appoint a replacement for Ernst."

You may imagine that Scott is rather upset at losing to a dead candidate—and she is. Scott has now "filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, saying the city had improperly helped her opponent's campaign."

Potential Preaching Angles: We may hear stories like this and wonder, "Really? This happened in 2016?" It's time like these that we may want to remind ourselves of the words of Ecclesiastes: "There is nothing new under the sun" (v. 9).