BILL NUMBER: S5177

SPONSOR: MURRAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law and the election law, in relation
to notifying county boards of elections of an individual's death

 
PURPOSE:

To ensure that upon the death of a registered voter of New York state,
that the county boards of elections are notified in a timely manner so
that the voter registration rolls may be more accurately maintained.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. amends section 4140 of the public health law to provide that
the state department of health shall report to the state board of
elections immediately (defined as no later than seven business days)
after receiving death certificates for registered voters. It then
provides that upon receipt of these records, the state board of
elections shall immediately provide this information to the county
              

boards of elections.

Section 2. provides that upon notification by the state board of
elections of the death of a registered voter, the county boards of
elections shall be cancelled and immediately removed from the registra-
tion roll.

Section 3. Establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

While current law requires the state department of health to notify the
state board of elections of the deaths of New York's registered voters,
there is no mechanism in law in which the county boards of elections are
in turn provided this information in a timely manner, so they are not
able to act themselves in a timely manner to update their voter regis-
tration lists.

This lack of an efficient notification process from the state agencies
to the county boards of elections leads to multiple inaccuracies of the
registration rolls and to instances of voters remaining on the rolls
when they are in fact, deceased. This bill will prevent deceased voters
from appearing on voter registration rolls erroneously for multiple
years.

The public needs to have confidence that our election process is fair
and accurate. This bill will help ensure that all voters whose names
should be on the rolls, are able to have their vote count. It will help
ensure the county boards of elections remove names that no longer should
be on the rolls, while helping to prevent so-called "phantom voters"
whose names remain far too long on outdated voter registration rolls,
leaving the electoral process open for fraud and abuse.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Minimal.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate.