Court Adopts Mall Plan to Ease Voter Registration

The Northridge Fashion Center has obtained a temporary restraining order against itself to allow Democrats to register voters there until the court decides on reasonable rules for groups that petition shoppers at the mall.

The unusual move by the mall stemmed from a lawsuit filed against it last month by the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley. The Democrats claimed that “burdensome” restrictions at the mall, which required them to purchase $1-million worth of insurance and pay a $100 security deposit, made registration of voters there impossible.

The Democrats were scheduled Wednesday to ask Los Angeles Superior Court to set aside the rules until the case is tried. But the mall went to court last week, agreeing to lift some of the restrictions--including the insurance requirement--if the court would postpone the court date until Aug. 28, said Jay J. Plotkin, an attorney for the Democrats.

Plotkin said he had never seen a defendant in a lawsuit ask for a temporary restraining order against itself. But the strategy worked because the judge decided that the mall made reasonable concessions in exchange for a delay in the court hearing, Plotkin said.

Democrats Agreeable

Sol Garber, spokesman for the Democrats, said Wednesday he could live with the new rules until Aug. 28.

With only seven weeks left to register voters for the Nov. 4 election, “It’s important to get as many Democrats registered as possible,” Garber said. “We can’t afford to waste any more time.”

Donald Z. Lieberman, the mall’s operations director, declined to explain its action, except to say: “We’re not trying to dodge anything, but it’s just a matter of putting our paper work together.”

According to the court order, the mall will allow the Democrats to register voters this Friday, Saturday and Sunday and again from Aug. 22 through Aug. 24, Plotkin said. The Valley group can have four members registering voters and can stand up to 15 feet from the registration table, which will be placed in front of the Sears or Broadway department stores, he said.

Must Submit Materials

The organization must submit an application and written materials and placards to mall management beforehand, but the mall can object only to pornography, expressions promoting violence or any implication that the mall supports the group’s activities, Plotkin said. The Democrats will provide a $50 cleaning and damage deposit and can appear for three successive days with only one application, he said.

Under the old rules, the mall limited the number of political organizers to two, required them to remain behind a registration table, required them to submit all written materials for approval and asked them to submit one application for each day they wanted to register voters, Plotkin said.

In 1979, the California Supreme Court ruled that residents could enter privately owned shopping centers to engage in peaceful political organizing. But the court also said shopping centers had the right to set reasonable guidelines, including the time, place and manner of such activities.

Since then, shopping center owners and political groups in the Valley and elsewhere have clashed over whether the rules reasonably protect private property rights and whether they violate free speech rights.