When it comes out that he’s dead but they waited long enough that there is no time for a special election, they should just have the special election anyway, because he was away from his duties before the deadline.

No. Kentucky’s governor should just immediately appoint a replacement, because the law requiring a special election was already unconstitutional (according to KY’s state constitution) to begin with. Which is also, by the way, probably why they’re continuing to conceal his death even after the fake ‘deadline’ has passed.