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House Bill 3304 Should Dead People Vote In Oregon? |
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When a person dies in Clackamas County, the Vital Records division in each county's Health and Human Services gathers information and produces two death certificates; an abstract death certificate within 48 hours (public information per ORS 432.105) and a full medical death certificate that is sent to the State Health Division within two weeks. Once the death certificate reaches the State Health Division, it is compiled with other death certificates and sent to the Secretary of State's office at the end of the month. (ORS 247.570). The Secretary of State will then send a death notice to all County Clerks to remove the names of people who have died from the voting lists. This process is the same for all counties and can take up to two months for the removal of the names of people who have died. In Clackamas County, the Elections office will update their voters list by researching death notices in local newspapers prior to state notification. This helps, but many are missed because people die in other counties and may not be written up in the local newspapers. |
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The Elections Department Had No Idea I Died |
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House Bill 3304 will fix these problems Instead of waiting (up to) two months for death notices to circulate to the county election offices, this bill will streamline the notification process down to a few days for the local county election office and about a week for all counties statewide. This new process is simple. When the county registrar makes up the death certificates as required by law, they simply make up an additional certificate and mails it to their own county election office. The county election office will then remove the name and forwards the notification to the Secretary of State who will then send it out to all counties statewide in a matter of days. The best part of this bill is that it streamlines the election process and will actually save money by eliminating the extra processing and mailing of ballots to people who have died in Oregon. Request to change law by Eugene Schoenheit HB 3304 sponsored by State Representative Linda Flores, Gallegos, & Mabrey _________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Dedicated to Marie Hester 1918 to 2002 |
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(7-21-03) HB 3304 was signed into law today by the Governor |
