A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO authorize the removal of deceased voters from voter REGISTRATION records upon receipt of a signed statement of a near relative or personal representative of the estate IDENTIFYING a voter as deceased and to  Encourage FUNERAL DIRECTORS TO MAKE AVAILABLE FORMS TO NEAR RELATIVES FOR NOTIFICATION TO THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS THAT THE VOTER IS DECEASED.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  G.S. 163‑33 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑33. Powers and duties of county boards of elections.
The county boards of elections within their respective jurisdictions shall exercise all powers granted to such boards in this Chapter, and they shall perform all the duties imposed upon them by law, which shall include the following:
...
(14)	To make forms available for near relatives or personal representatives of a deceased voter's estate to provide signed statements of the status of a deceased voter to return to the board of elections of the county in which the deceased voter was registered. Forms may be provided, upon request, to any of the following: near relatives, personal representatives of a deceased voter's estate, funeral directors, or funeral service licensees."
SECTION 1.(b)  G.S. 163‑82.14(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	Death. – The Department of Health and Human Services shall furnish free of charge to the State Board of Elections every month, in a format prescribed by the State Board of Elections, the names of deceased persons who were residents of the State. The State Board of Elections shall distribute every month to each county board of elections the names on that list of deceased persons who were residents of that county. The Department of Health and Human Services shall base each list upon information supplied by death certifications it received during the preceding month. Upon the receipt of those names, each county board of elections shall remove from its voter registration records any person the list shows to be dead. Each county board of elections shall also remove from its voter registration records a person identified as deceased by a signed statement of a near relative or personal representative of the estate of the deceased voter. The county board need not send any notice to the address of the person so removed."
SECTION 2.  Article 13A of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read: 
"§ 90‑210.25C.  Notification forms for deceased voters.
(a)	At the time funeral arrangements are made, a funeral director or funeral service licensee is encouraged to make available to near relatives of the deceased a form upon which the near relative may report the status of the deceased voter to the board of elections of the county in which the deceased was a registered voter.
(b)	A funeral director or funeral service licensee may obtain forms for reporting the status of deceased voters from the county board of elections."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2013.