LAS VEGAS, Nev. (KTNV) — Russ Lorenzen, the Las Vegas voter who says he's been receiving election mail addressed to his home's former occupant for 30 years, has once again received a mail-in ballot in the woman's name.
Lorenzen first contacted Channel 13 in March to explain the problem, which has seen him receive political fliers but also official mail such as sample and mail-in ballots.
He told us last week that he'd received a sample ballot for someone who used to live at his southeast valley home. A check of county voter records showed the woman to whom it was addressed was still an active voter at his address, although she hasn't lived there for 30 years.
WATCH | Man getting election mail for previous homeowner for 30 years gets yet another ballot
Although Channel 13 presented county officials will the information during a tour of election headquarters in May, county officials say they need formal written notice of an address discrepancy before they can take action. A discrepancy report Lorenzen says he filled out earlier this year was never received by the county, a spokeswoman said.
Lorenzen said he can't believe the problem has persisted this long.
"I just didn't think anything of it," he said. "I said they'll fix it sooner or later, but here we are, a lot of election cycles in, and it's still amazing to me that it's still there after almost 30 years."
Lorenzen added, "I mean, it's just incredible that the responsibility — even though the law says they're supposed to take it off after eight years — the responsibility ... is on me, the person that votes every time and casts the ballot in person, but their responsibility shouldn't be mine. The system should catch this."
Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar saw our story and personally reached out to Lorenzen, apologizing for the lack of government action and telling him he did the right thing in bringing the situation to public attention. He explained what Lorenzen had to do to start the process of fixing the problem.
Aguilar's office didn't have an update on Monday about the case.
Lorenzen said he would write "return to sender" on his ballot envelope and send it back to the county in the hopes of starting the process of removing his home's former occupant from the voting rolls.
But, he said, if public utilities could flag issues quickly, the elections department should be able to do the same.
"It's sort of like if I get my water bill, and I don't pay it, they automatically send me a letter," he said. "It's not like something has to happen. And then when I pay it off, hopefully they stop sending me overdue bills. But I don't pay it. they automatically turn the water off."
In the meantime, Aguilar encourages all voters to make sure their information is current at vote.nv.gov, where you can update your address, contact information, change your party affiliation and even opt-out of receiving a mail ballot sent to your home.
For voters who do choose to vote by mail, you can track your mail ballot in the same way you can track your online purchases or food delivery order online at MyBallot.NV.gov.
