Las Vegas homeowner says he has received election mail for his home's previous owner since buying the house in 1997

What happened

A Las Vegas homeowner says election mail addressed to the person who sold him his house has kept arriving for nearly 30 years, KTNV Channel 13 reported. Russell Lorenzen bought the home in 1997 and has since received fliers and sample ballots in the previous owner's name.

According to KTNV, Lorenzen threw the mail away until 2020. That year the Nevada Legislature authorized mailing ballots to every active registered voter in the state, which made the issue more pressing for him.

Why the problem has lasted

The homeowner's side

Lorenzen reached out to Channel 13 in March. He told the station he had filled out a form telling the county that the former owner moved away long ago. A KTNV reporter also raised his concerns with election officials during a May tour of the county's elections headquarters.

Last week, Lorenzen received his own sample ballot along with one for the former owner, KTNV reported. Asked how he reacted, he told the station, "I can't say the word on television." He also questioned why fixing the county's records should be his job.

The county's side

A county spokeswoman told Channel 13 the county had not received any written notice from Lorenzen about the former owner moving. KTNV reported it is not clear why the form he says he returned never arrived.

The seller has not voted from Lorenzen's address in at least 14 general elections, according to KTNV, yet she still appears to be on the rolls. The spokeswoman said an absent voter can stay registered as long as the post office does not return election mail as undeliverable and a new resident does not send it back marked return to sender.

How voters are removed from the rolls

Inactive status comes first

The spokeswoman described the process to KTNV. Once the county receives written notice that a voter no longer lives at an address, that person is placed on an inactive voter list. If the voter then does not vote in two federal elections, the name is purged.

KTNV reported that Nevada currently has 416,618 inactive voters and more than 2 million active registered voters.

Signature checks on mail ballots

Officials, including Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, have said a person holding someone else's mail ballot cannot use it to vote, according to KTNV. Election workers compare the signature on each ballot envelope with the one on file. Ballots with missing or mismatched signatures are set aside until the voter confirms casting them, and they are not counted if that does not happen.

Lorenzen remains skeptical. He told KTNV that people watching might think, "Well, if it could happen to Russ, it could happen to me, and then it cancels out my vote."

What homeowners and new residents can do

Officials encourage voters to keep their addresses current in state records, KTNV reported. They also ask residents who receive official election mail for someone else to send it back to the county with a note that it was delivered in error. For more on buying and living in a home here, see our real estate coverage.

Any voter can check registration status online at vote.nv.gov. Our elections section follows how local voting rules work.

What to watch next

• Lorenzen, who prefers to vote in person, told KTNV he expects to receive his mail ballot along with one for the previous owner.
• It remains unclear why the county did not receive the residency form Lorenzen says he returned.
• Whether returning the misdirected mail to the county starts the process that would move the former owner to inactive status.