Albany County voters approve ballot initiative to replace coroners with medical examiner

More than 60% of Albany County voters approved replacing the county’s four elected, part-time coroners with an appointed medical examiner Tuesday, WAMC reported, though that margin trailed the 79% who backed a separate measure allowing the legislature to expel its own members, according to unofficial results from the Albany County Board of Elections.

The dual votes signal a sweeping overhaul of how the county investigates unattended and questionable deaths and disciplines its lawmakers. The Medical Examiner’s Office will assume responsibility for investigating unattended, questionable and accidental deaths, taking over from the coroners. The position of chief medical examiner, which is a full-time role, requires a licensed physician specializing in forensic pathology, to be appointed to a six-year term by County Executive Dan McCoy and confirmed by the Albany County Legislature.

McCoy, who backed the ballot initiative, told WAMC he grew frustrated with coroners sometimes arriving late to scenes and failing to track critical data during the COVID-19 pandemic and opioid crisis.

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“They weren’t tracking it. There’s just statistics that they should have, [they’re] not getting back to people,” McCoy said in an interview last month. “And there’s professionals — I’m not taking away from the coroners; they did a good job. But it’s the administrative side of the house, right? And it’s the 21st century. We got to change the approach.”

Advocates for eliminating the “antiquated” Coroner’s Office contended that establishing a medical examiner’s office would bring the county’s death investigation process up to date. The new chief medical examiner will be able to hire a full-time chief deputy medical examiner and other staff, like death investigators, to handle the caseload previously managed by the four part-time elected coroners.

The $935,000 Question

During a budget hearing last month, county officials informed legislators that the county is negotiating to share medical examiner resources with a “neighboring county” to reduce costs, and that such an agreement could be approved as early as next month. The County Executive’s Office originally estimated that switching to a medical examiner’s office would cost an additional $935,000 per year, although officials said the cost increase may only be an additional $600,000 if the proposed resource-sharing agreement with that “neighboring county” goes through.

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Some legislators worried the office might exceed McCoy’s budget projections, particularly because they believed the proposed salaries for the three death investigators were underestimated.

“I am concerned the cost of the new office will be more than the administration thinks,” said Legislator Mark Grimm, who voted in favor of keeping the coroners, in an email in September. “It does try to modernize things. Close call for me on the vote.”

Seventy-Nine Percent Back Expulsion Power

Voters were even more decisive on the second ballot question, with about 79% approving a process to expel county legislators, according to unofficial results from the Albany County Board of Elections. Under the measure, the County Legislature can vote to remove a member from office for failing to reside in their district, knowingly submitting a “materially false” financial statement to the county while in office, or being convicted of a felony during their term. Removing a member would require a two-thirds vote of the County Legislature, which translates to 26 of the 39 members. According to the County Charter, the legislature has the authority to appoint a replacement for expelled members until the next general election, at which point voters would choose a replacement.

The ballot initiative largely stems from an investigation examining whether County Legislator Beroro Efekoro, a Democrat who opposed sending the proposal to voters, actually resided in his district. According to initial reporting by the Albany Times-Union in 2025, Democratic legislators started looking into whether Efekoro resides in his district or at another property he owns elsewhere in the City of Albany. The probe originated from a tip alleging that Efekoro designated that second property as his primary residence on a mortgage form, and a county investigator allegedly surveilled Efekoro for two weeks. Democrats in the legislature said they were just trying to make sure Efekoro was following ethical guidelines.

Efekoro himself has insisted that he does not live at that second property and claimed the investigation was punishment for defying party leadership.

“All of the controversy came out about him, then we looked, and we said, ‘You know what? There’s more than just him involved,'” said Albany County Legislature Deputy Chairwoman Wanda Willingham, a Democrat who backed the ballot initiative, in an interview Tuesday night. “So it wasn’t fair to make people think that he was the one being targeted when it was really about addressing the issue. We looked at it and realized we have nothing in place.”

The Coroner’s Office Stays Silent

WAMC reached out to the Coroner’s Office for comment. A coroner reached by WAMC declined to comment, but said he would reach out to other coroners. No one ever got back to WAMC.

The switch to an appointed medical examiner system replaces the current elected, part-time system with a professional, full-time office that adds medical expertise and improves death investigation records. Whether the neighboring county resource-sharing deal materializes next month will determine if taxpayers face the $600,000 or $935,000 annual increase, and the coroners who served the county have yet to publicly respond to requests for comment.

Earlier coverage: Albany County voters approve replacing coroners with medical examiner