County Registrar Investigated Voter Addresses at Commercial Properties in Nevada

County officials said some of the addresses require further research.
County Registrar Investigated Voter Addresses at Commercial Properties in Nevada
People are allegedly registered to vote from this vacant gravel parking lot in Reno, Nevada. Courtesy of the Public Interest Legal Foundation
Steven Kovac
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Clark County Registrar of Voters Lorena Portillo has investigated the validity of 90 voter registration addresses in Nevada’s most populous county.

In a legal filing on Aug. 15, attorneys for Portillo said the Registrar of Voters (ROV) and her staff investigated a list of “various commercial addresses” provided by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) as part of a lawsuit filed by two Nevada residents and PILF on June 25, requesting that the county do so.

“The ROV did exercise its discretion in reviewing the addresses and will take the appropriate action as required by federal and state law,” the filing stated.

Portillo noted in the document that she and her staff were not legally required to conduct the investigation.

The county registrar found that 29 of the commercial addresses were confirmed as the voters’ true residences, 16 were previously identified as addresses of inactive voters, 12 had no active or inactive voters, nine were connected to voided registrations, four were connected with voters who had already updated their voter registration, and one was a typo.

In addition, 19 addresses will require further investigation by the Election Department, according to the filing.

The registrar did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

The addresses were brought to Portillo’s attention by PILF, who said they combined computer analysis of the voter rolls with physical canvassing of the suspect locations to compile a list of commercial addresses.

PILF provided video, photographs, personal interviews, and affidavits to document their findings.

Nevada law requires election officials to perform voter roll maintenance to keep the ever-changing registration list accurate and up to date.

According to a statement released by PILF, Nevada law also requires people to register to vote where they live. Registering to vote from commercial addresses where a person does not reside or from post office boxes is prohibited.

The group said some addresses referred to Clark County election officials for investigation were post office boxes, vacant lots, bars, state government offices, liquor stores, fast food restaurants, convenience stores, parking lots, and tattoo parlors.

“Clark County investigated all 90 commercial addresses we asked them to look into. We will be putting in a records request under the National Voter Registration Act to see the details, actions, and results of the investigations,” PILF communications director Lauren Bowman Bis said in an email to The Epoch Times.

As a result of legal filings by the county, the lawsuit filed by PILF and the two residents was dismissed without prejudice by District Court Judge Timothy C. Williams in a court document dated Aug. 22.
According to data collected by the Nevada Secretary of State’s office, 95,556 ballots were sent to undeliverable addresses during the 2022 midterm election.

Washoe County Case

In a similar case, PILF and a Nevada resident filed a petition asking the court to compel Washoe County election officials to investigate dozens of voters registered at commercial addresses flagged in that jurisdiction by the foundation.

Washoe County spokesperson Bethany Drysdale told The Epoch Times that she could not comment on the ongoing case other than to say that Washoe County Interim Registrar of Voters Carrie-Ann Burgess is committed to maintaining clean and accurate voter rolls.

Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar has joined Burgess in opposing the petition.

Aguilar did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Also opposing PILF’s petition were the Institute for Progressive Nevada, the Rise Action Fund, and the Nevada Alliance for Retired Americans.

PILF referred 48 voter registrations to Washoe election officials for investigation.

“It is a small, manageable, representative sample that could be quickly investigated if the will was there. If not, it is small enough to allow the court an easy, reasonable remedy,” Bis said.

“Our goal is to use persuasion, and litigation, when necessary, to get local election officials to perform their statutory duties to look for and investigate potentially bad addresses and remove the bad ones from the roll.”

Bis told The Epoch Times that PILF has been alerting Nevada election officials of potential issues with voter registrations at commercial properties since 2020.

Steven Kovac
Steven Kovac
Reporter
Steven Kovac reports for The Epoch Times from Michigan. He is a general news reporter who has covered topics related to rising consumer prices to election security issues. He can be reached at [email protected]