Staten Island lawmakers push organ donation sign-up on voter registration forms

Staten Island Live | Judy L Randall


Staten Island Advance / Jan Somma-Hammel) Michael Temperino, chair of the Organ Donor Council at Staten Island University Hospital, introduces Tracy Iorizzo, who talked about the value of her daughter's organ donation, in this 2010 photo

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Voter registration typically surges in presidential election years, and local lawmakers and good-government groups are hopeful of a side benefit this year: an increase in organ donations.

The New York State Legislature passed a law four years ago to include an organ and tissue-donor check-off box on voter registration forms, but it didn't take effect until 2009.

While New York is the only state to have organ enrollment on voter forms -- there's a donor line that you can sign on your driver's license, too -- the Empire State has a woeful rate of organ donations compared to the national average.

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{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}