How does one lawfully get someone’s death certificate?

Dear Editor,

Attention is directed to a news article titled, `Coalition provides proof of dead person voting,’ in the Chronicle (5/20). It included publication of someone’s death certificate ending with serial number 917, and stated that it was provided by the Coalition. However, there is no indication as to whether it was lawfully acquired.

A few days later, another newspaper reported that Coalition executive, Ms. Amna Ally, boldly stated that, “Anybody can access a death certificate…I think what you have to do is to pay about $300 and you can access a death certificate” (see KN 5/24). Unfortunately, this could not have been done to cure the privacy argument against live streaming of the recount.

Still, one is reminded that Ms. Ally holds the powerful and enviable position of General Secretary (GS) within the PNCR; she reportedly also said that her party searched “every nook and cranny” for information such as death certificates to make their case of the dead having voted.

The PNCR GS has to try again, even though as the famous William Blake once wrote, there is one law for the ox and another for the mule. One sincerely doubts that a $300 tab or “every nook and cranny” is the proper response to a legitimate question: how does one lawfully get someone’s death certificate, a very private and statutorily protected document.

The May 20 Chronicle article further quoted a member of the Coalition who said, incredibly, that “he has over 100 death certificates to scan through while they are going through boxes, to see if any of those persons have voted.”

Now that it appears that GECOM is, arguably, overstepping by “formally” soliciting “evidence” from the Coalition (see Chronicle 5/23) to prove their claims of the dead voting, there ought to be a number of questions put to the public.

1. Is a death certificate a property of a dead person’s estate, family, or both?

2. Who has the lawful right to give a third party a dead person’s death certificate, a lawfully recognized or appointed executor of that dead person’s estate, or a family member (“next of kin”)? Who exactly is “next of kin”?

3. Assuming this is not a case of hearsay, how realistic is it for a political party to lawfully acquire at least 100 death certificates in a handful of weeks since March 2?

4. Can a state agency lawfully provide a death certificate to a political entity or individual, if there is no familial or legal relationship to the person who died?

5. Is GECOM lawfully authorized to conduct an evidentiary hearing generally reserved for post-elections litigation in court, for the purpose of resolving alleged electoral fraud and using death certificates acquired via illegal means?

6. If an election petition is filed, what steps have to be satisfied in order for a death certificate to be admissible in court?

Yours faithfully, Rakesh Rampertab