Exclusive | Families outraged after dead loved ones in Los Angeles received primary election ballots

Ballots continued to arrive in the mailboxes of deceased Californians ahead of this year’s primary election, despite repeated efforts by relatives to notify officials and provide proof of death, The California Post has learned.Los Angeles resident Steve Brown followed every instruction election officials gave him after his wife, Lisa Brown, died in 2021.Steve reported her death, submitted paperwork and even sent a copy of her death certificate, he told The Post.Yet five years later, election mail still arrives in Lisa’s name, at an address the couple left years ago.

The repeated mailings have left Brown angry, exhausted and increasingly skeptical of a system he says he has spent years trying to correct.“It’s a lot of work,” Brown told The Post.“You do what they tell you to do, and the ballot still comes.”A review by The Post confirmed Lisa’s registration remained active in the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s voter database.A 2025 review of 2 million active California voter registrations by the Public Interest Legal Foundation identified 94,516 registrants flagged as deceased through comparisons with the Social Security Death Index and obituary records.The review also found 57,725 potential duplicate voter registrations across state lines, 3,104 same-address duplicate registrations and 7,677 voter records containing placeholder or fictitious birth dates.“If they can’t get something this basic right, it makes you wonder what else isn’t right,” Brown told The Post.

The repeated mailings also reopen old wounds.“It hurts,” Brown said.Pia Altavilla said she continues receiving election ballots for both her late husband, who died unexpectedly two years ago, and her father, Francesco Altavilla, who died five years ago.She questioned why voter records are not automatically updated when someone dies.California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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