reviewjournal.com -- News: Fake voter sign-ups increasing

reviewjournal.com -- News: Fake voter sign-ups increasing

Nevada's position as a battleground state in the presidential election has sparked a surge in fake voter registrations, Clark County's top election official said.

"We've never seen anything close to this," said Larry Lomax, registrar of voters.

So far, the office has flagged several hundred suspicious registration forms, but Lomax believes many more escaped detection among the 5,000 forms coming through his office every week.

"There are stupid criminals out there, and there are smart ones," Lomax said. "We can spot the stupid ones because they submit them in a stack."

Because of the state's swing-state status, political groups are paying people to register as many voters as possible, a common practice.

However, some groups are illegally paying for each registration form submitted instead of paying workers by the hour. The practice is against both state and federal law. The state attorney general's office is looking at whether charges should be filed.

"It incentivizes fraud," Lomax said.

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