SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – On August 8, the District Attorney’s office sent out 161 letters to people who have registered to vote in South Lake Tahoe’s upcoming election. The reason? The El Dorado County Registrar of Voters completed an audit identifying voters who had recently changed their address to vote in South Lake Tahoe. Not all individuals who received the letter are necessarily at fault: people may be attending college or moving, they may have filled out the form incorrectly or believed they would be in the county during the election.

But on the heels of a flyer being distributed in the community encouraging voters to change location and vote on Measure N, also known as the Tahoe Vacancy Tax, it qualifies as concerning/questionable activity.

Measure N, which would tax vacant residential units beginning in 2026 if it passes, has been fiercely opposed by many who own several properties in the city—some of whom do not call South Lake Tahoe their place of residence. According to California Elections Code § 2031, a registered voter must choose the residence for which they claim a property tax exemption on their taxes as their primary residence for purposes of voting in an election. For people who own vacation homes, rentals, or don’t reside in a property within South Lake Tahoe for most of the year, it means they are ineligible to register to vote for South Lake Tahoe’s election.

The El Dorado County registrar of voters, Bill O’Neill, sent a letter out in June clarifying where people are able to register to vote. The letter references a similar issue that happened in 2010, where people registered in Fallen Leaf in order to vote in the area. It was clarified that vacation homes count as a “residence” and not a “domicile.” Domiciles are described there as a place that might include “where one works, enrolls children at school, receives mail, sees their primary physician, where their vehicles are registered, the address on a driver’s license, where you receive your homeowner’s exemption, or handles other matters of similar import.”

O’Neill was aware that this year’s election might have issues like this. “We knew people would be very passionate about this back in January and February, so we had an eye out for that,” he said.

But the potential for voter fraud was brought to him by a California state assembly member who owns property in the Tahoe Keys. “He called and indicated that there was a possibility of voter fraud because he had received a flyer encouraging him to register to vote in South Lake Tahoe, so he could vote on the vacancy tax.”

O’Neill stated that the county registrar had reached out to the district attorney’s office in late April due to concerns about the voter registration requirements. By mid-May, O’Neill drafted a letter that would publish on June 6^th for the registered voters of South Lake Tahoe, detailing election laws regarding eligibility to vote in the area.

 In July, the county registrar’s office continued to monitor who had reached out to clarify their address changes and who had not. They also met with Simon Brown, the investigator from the district attorney’s office. Brown would prepare the letter that went out on August 8^th which addressed California Elections Code 2031, as well as Code § 18500, which states “it is a felony to commit fraud in connection with a vote cast or to be cast in an upcoming election and is punishable by up to three years in prison.”

According to O’Neill, there are about 70 individuals currently being followed up on through Brown’s investigation. As people continue to register to vote, the registrar’s office runs addresses and other information against other reports several times a week to catch other concerning or questionable voter registrations as a preventative measure. “Beyond what we do in the office and the investigation, the next real step is prosecution,” said O’Neill. “Here in California, all throughout the state, ensuring accurate registration and voting is really important to us.”

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.