DEAD people have a history, much of it apocryphal, of mucking up elections. There is the story of an Ohio man dead for two decades who voted in the 2004 election, and the tale of a woman from Guam who donated thousands, from the grave, to the Tea Party.

But in the Bronx, it is a dead man who was presented as a candidate for State Senate in 2010 who has perplexed local officials.

The man, Raphael M. Klapper, an ophthalmologist and an immigrant from Poland, died in May at age 85 of complications from pancreatic cancer. Six months later, he was listed on the ballot as the Conservative Party candidate in the 31st District.

Dr. Klapper, who lived in Riverdale, never expressed an interest in running for office, family members say. But by the time polls closed, he had collected 828 votes, or about 2 percent of the total  without knocking on any doors or delivering a single speech. Adriano G. Espaillat, a Democrat, won the seat with nearly 40,000 votes.