The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a mandamus petition to compel Washoe County election officials, specifically interim registrar Cari Ann Burgess, to investigate and correct commercial addresses listed on the voter roll.
According to the complaint, a media production specialist for the Registrar of Voters initially responded to their request, submitted in April 2024, but subsequently referred the foundation to Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar. Since before the 2020 election, PILF has notified Nevada election officials about commercial addresses on the voter roll.
Their investigation revealed voters registered at various commercial locations, including casinos, vacant lots, gas stations, strip clubs, and fast food restaurants. Follow-up investigations in 2024 found hundreds of questionable addresses still present on the Nevada voter rolls, with notable examples in Washoe County being the Nevada Gaming Control Board, liquor stores, parking lots, and tattoo parlors.
The PILF writ includes exhibits showing business addresses and vacant lots listed on voter registrations, which violates Nevada law. State statute prohibits listing a P.O. box or a business as a home address, requiring individuals to register to vote where they live. Additionally, state law mandates election officials to maintain the voter list to ensure accuracy.
The petition highlights a voter registered at the Hustler Strip Club in Las Vegas, which aligns with recent discoveries by Drew Johnson, the Republican challenger to Rep. Susie Lee. PILF also published a review of a 2023 report by the Secretary of State detailing mail ballot issues from the 2022 midterm election.
According to PILF President J. Christian Adams, the data shows that “Automatic mail ballots are a disaster and the Nevada numbers prote it.”
The 2023 report indicated 95,556 ballots went to undeliverable addresses, with 8,036 rejected and 1.2 million never returned. Their review concluded that the Nevada 2022 midterm elections illustrate the impact of rejected, unreturned, and undeliverable ballots on close election results.
For instance, the U.S. Senate race was decided by a margin of 7,928 votes, with 8,036 rejected ballots out of nearly 513,000 returned. PILF raised concerns about reducing failure rates in mail voting.
However, Marc Elias, an activist lawyer associated with the Democratic party, has now intervened in the PILF petition, calling it a “disastrous election system fix.”
Elias challenged a Nevada Voter ID ballot initiative earlier this year, and the Nevada Supreme Court refused to hear his argument.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
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