LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — State elections officials are investigating at least two cases of ballots cast in the names of deceased individuals on Clark County’s voter rolls, the I-Team confirmed.
A state law passed this year required all counties to send every registered voter a mail-in ballot. At least two ballots in Clark County were returned from individuals who remain on the voter rolls, but who are no longer alive.
Rosemarie Hartle, of Las Vegas, died in 2017 at age 52 from breast cancer, her husband, Kirk Hartle, told the I-Team. A ballot for Rosemarie was issued and later received by the county, but Kirk said the ballot never came to his house.
The I-Team found even though Rosemarie died in 2017, her name appears on the active voter list.
Rosemarie’s signature matched to what Clark County officials had on records, officials said. Until their investigation is complete, there is no way to know who signed the ballot.
“That is pretty sickening to me to be honest with you,” Kirk said.
Rosemarie’s ballot was issued on Oct. 9. It was returned the day before Election Day, according to BallotTrax, the system Clark County uses to track ballots from when they are dispatched to when they are counted.
“It certainly brings up a lot of discomfort,” Kirk said. “There’s a pretty exhausting process you go through when someone passes.”
The county regularly updates its voter rolls, officials said. The data is updated as part of the Electronic Registration Information Center, a project among 30 states to share voter information.
In an unrelated case, a Las Vegas man who died in 2017 also had a mail-in ballot cast in his name. Clark County officials said it appears his ballot was returned by a family member, who herself did not vote.
Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said any illegal activity will be flagged.
“We have the data,” he said, adding the Secretary of State would “vigorously go after anyone who tried to test the system.”
No charges have been filed in either case. Clark County does not directly investigate voter fraud or allegations of fraud and sends the information to the Secretary of State’s Office and the attorney general.
Monday morning, President Trump tweeted Nevada was turning into a “cesspool of fake votes,” but provided no evidence. Twitter flagged the tweet and provided the I-Team’s reporting as evidence of a lack of widespread fraud, something Nevada and federal officials have consistently pressed.
Officials with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office said they are aware of the allegations, but some complaints about the issues sent to them by Nevada Republicans were redacted.
“This morning, we received a redacted affidavit that does not contain the individual’s name, signature or contact information,” a spokesperson for the office told the I-Team. “As it stands, our office has not yet received a formal complaint and cannot conduct an investigation without such critical details. This office takes allegations of voter fraud extremely seriously and works with our elections officials, as well as law enforcement partners in Nevada and other states, to investigate and prosecute voter fraud when warranted by the evidence.”
Any election-related complaint can be filed at ag.nv.gov.
Sources close to the Trump campaign and the Nevada Republican Party said more allegations would be released soon.
As of Monday, President-Elect Joe Biden led President Trump by 65,000 votes.
Last week, a federal judge denied an emergency motion from Nevada Republicans after they sued Clark County and the Secretary of State’s Office, claiming voter fraud. The lawsuit alleged the county’s signature verification system uses lower quality images than its software requires.
