Dedicated to Marie Hester

1918 to 2002

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 these

names 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 and are not written up in a local

newspapers.

House Bill 3304 will fix these problems


Instead of waiting (up to) two months for death notices to get 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.


The new process is simple. When the county registrar makes up the death certificates as

required by law, they simply make up an additional copy and send it to their own county

election office.  The county election office will then remove the name and forwards the

information 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



(7-21-03) HB 3304 was signed into law today by the Governor

The Elections Department Had No Idea I Died

  House Bill 3304

  Should Dead People Vote In Oregon?

History of HB3304                                             House Bill 3304  Main Page


Legal language of HB.3304                               Ortem Main Page


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