LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Jennifer DeVivo moved away from Las Vegas in 1996.
She and her parents only lived here briefly, before returning to New York.
She got a new drivers license, registered to vote and says she votes in every election in the Empire State.
But unbeknownst to her, she was still listed on the voter rolls as an active voter in Nevada.
Election mail keeps showing up at the southeast Las Vegas house she used to live in, and not just political mailers, but official election mail, including registration cards, sample ballots and even official ballots.
The home's current owner, Russ Lorenzen, just tossed the mail and figured the county would eventually see that DeVivo, whose married name is Jennifer Randazzo, was not voting and remove her from the rolls.
But the mail kept coming. And after Lorenzen saw Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar on television talking about the security of Nevada's elections, he was fed up. He called Channel 13 to tell us about the situation.
WATCH | Former Las Vegas resident surprised to find out she's still on Nevada voter rolls
After our story ran, we told county elections officials about Lorenzen's problem. But in June, he got another official mail ballot for Jennifer. The same thing happened this month, when a sample ballot and an official mail-in ballot for the November general election showed up.
The story got Aguilar's attention, and he personally called Lorenzen to discuss the problem, and encouraged him to formally notify Clark County officials of the situation.
Still on the rolls
Meanwhile, Jennifer had no idea she was still on the rolls in Nevada. A Channel 13 reporter reached out to her family members in New York, and she returned a call, after verifying a reporter's identity online.
She told us that, save for a few visits, she hasn't been to Las Vegas in nearly three decades.
"I was surprised because I knew that the election wasn't always, you know, like I heard it wasn't secure. And when I go to vote here [in New York], I don't even have to show my ID, which I always question, because how do you know it's me?" she said in a Zoom interview with Channel 13 Thursday. "And I didn't think I was part of the problem in another state."
Jennifer said the state's should be able to determine if someone has moved when they trade in their drivers license, which she did long ago.
Nevada is a member of the ERIC system, the Electronic Registration Information Center, in which states voluntarily cooperate to ensure people when people move or re-register, their former state is notified. A total of 27 states and Washington, D.C. are members of ERIC.
But back in 1996, ERIC didn't exist. (It was founded in 2012.) New York became a member in 2025, so if a person moved today, their information would be updated.
Jennifer's information, however, was not.
According to a county spokeswoman, election officials need a formal written notice that a person has moved away or died before they can start the process of removing them from the voter rolls.
That can happen if the post office returns a voter registration postcard as undeliverable, or if a resident writes "return to sender" on the outside of an official mail ballot. People can also file a discrepancy report with Clark County.
That can start the process of putting a person's name on the inactive voter list, and eventually they will be removed from the voter rolls during regular list maintenance. There are currently more than 400,000 voters listed as inactive in Nevada.
(You can check your voter registration information and make any necessary updates online at vote.NV.gov.)
Jennifer says there's obviously a problem.
"I would just tell them [elections officials] that there's a flaw in the system, and, you know, voter ID is a must, one. And two, they should clean up their act with the making sure that [there's] more accuracy in their elections, because if it's happening to me with my mail, who else is it happening to and it's not being recognized and brought to anybody's attention about it."
She also said she was glad Lorenzen brought the issue to the news. Someone less honest might try to use the ballot to vote in her name, she said. "Thank God Russ Lorenzen is honest enough to say, listen, she hasn't lived here. He could you know, be checking off who he wants and double voting for his party," she said.
Before counting a vote, however, officials match the signature on the outside of the mail ballot envelope with the one on file at the elections department. If they don't match, the ballot is set aside until the voter is contacted and confirms the vote. Elections materials including with each mail ballot warn that voting more than once in an election is a crime.
For his part, Lorenzen says he is returning the mail ballot to the county, writing "return to sender" and "not at this address" on the outside. That should start the process of getting Jennifer's name off the list of active voters, officials say.
For Jennifer, who learned this week she's registered to vote in a state that hasn't been her home for nearly 30 years, the solution should be more simple.
"Well, the truth of the matter today, we live in the age of technology, right? There has to be some better way for people to vote and for it to be more accurate," she said.
Do you have a question about Nevada politics? Ask Steve at Steve.Sebelius@ktnv.com, or by clicking on the link below.
