FBI Begins Probe of GOP Posting of Guards at Polls

The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations of voter intimidation by uniformed security guards who were hired by the Orange County Republican Party and posted at polling places in heavily Latino precincts in Santa Ana to warn non-citizens not to vote.

Republican officials said the guards were hired because of anonymous tips about a Democratic plan to bus illegal aliens to the polls to vote. No proof of citizenship is required when an individual registers to vote, according to Orange County Registrar of Voters Donald F. Tanney, although only citizens may vote legally.

The uniformed guards were sent to the polling places with large signs in English and Spanish warning non-citizens not to vote.

All the polling places were in the 72nd Assembly District, and Carlos Rodriguez, the chief consultant to the Republican candidate who apparently won there, said Wednesday that the election’s outcome might have been different without the guards.

Said Rodriguez: “I’m not at all sure we would have won.”

Republican Curt Pringle of Garden Grove was leading Democrat Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach of Anaheim in the 72nd District on Wednesday by a scant 671 votes--31,919 to 31,248--as the counting of absentee ballots continued.

Tanney said he visited two of the polling places Tuesday night and will turn over his findings later this week to the district attorney’s office for review of any election code violations, such as interference with a polling place or intimidation of voters.

“At this point in time, I feel it’s best handled by an independent law enforcement agency,” Tanney said.

A spokesman for the Orange County district attorney’s office said he would have no comment until a complaint is brought to the office.

Latinos and Democrats reacted angrily Wednesday, likening the presence of uniformed security guards at the polls to “Gestapo” tactics.

The state GOP repudiated the security guard program Wednesday. “This ill-advised, totally objectionable program was devised and funded entirely by the Orange County Republican Central Committee,” Bob Naylor said. “I, as state Republican chairman, have adopted a policy specifically barring any CRP (California Republican Party) poll-watching program that might intimidate voters.”

Thomas A. Fuentes, Orange County Republican Party chairman, issued an apology Wednesday to anyone who might have been offended but said he felt sure that the presence of the guards did not affect the election’s outcome.

“If there was an offense taken by anyone, I assure you that was not the intent,” Fuentes said. “But if indeed there was, then I think we need to say ‘Lo siento,’ which is ‘We are sorry,’ and we genuinely apologize.”

He added: “I would say in retrospect, based on the brouhaha created by the opposition in the media, I would not have” hired the uniformed guards.

No Proof Voting Denied

Thierbach said his campaign has no proof that anyone was denied the chance to vote because of the guards. But he said that does not “diminish the gravity” of what happened.

Thierbach, a prosecutor with the Riverside County district attorney’s office, said he received reports that some guards were inside polling places, a possible violation of federal election laws.

“We were even told that one of the guards was sitting next to a ballot box and was handling ballots as people left,” Thierbach said.

Bob Hattoy, director of the Michael S. Dukakis presidential campaign in Orange County, said he personally found four polling places where security guards were sitting at tables with the poll workers.

Poll workers told him that they thought the guards were sent from the county registrar’s office as a peacekeeping move, Hattoy said.

“I said, ‘No, they’re not! They’re hired by a Republican candidate and have no business being here.’ ”

Asking Only Latinos

Hattoy said one of the guards, who told him she is a Democrat, said her job was to stop and ask only Latinos if they are citizens.

Some Republican leaders were apologetic Wednesday but insisted that there was good cause to post guards at polling booths to avert voting by non-citizens. Republicans conceded, however, that they have no proof that such illegal voting occurred.

Rodriguez said the Pringle campaign had received anonymous information indicating a likelihood of false voter registration and the transportation of non-citizens into the 72nd District to vote.

Fuentes said the decision to hire the guards was made by the county GOP--by “our staff, I guess.”

The security guards carried copies of an instruction sheet with a referral number that rang at Pringle’s campaign headquarters. But Pringle said the guards were hired by the Republican Party, not his campaign.

The guards were hired to “protect the integrity of the voting process” and not to intimidate Latinos, Pringle said.

Police Sent to Polls

Santa Ana police were dispatched Tuesday to polling places after complaints were lodged with the Orange County district attorney’s office. But a police spokesman said Wednesday that no criminal violations were found.

The FBI acknowledged Wednesday that it has launched an inquiry.

“We have opened up an investigation to look into allegations of election law violations in that matter,” FBI spokesman Jim Neilson said.

The California secretary of state’s office was not immediately acting on the complaints because it was still involved in finalizing Tuesday’s election results, a spokesman said.

“We’re aware of what happened yesterday and will follow up on it,” said Tony Miller, chief deputy secretary of state. “It’s disputed, as to what occurred. If indeed there was verbal (oral or written) contact with voters and discouragement . . . it’s a clear violation of the law.

“If the person (guard) was just standing there, it’s not a violation of the law. We just need more facts. We have a number of allegations and conflicting stories. We need to talk to some people . . . such as the registrar.”

Latinos Protest Action

In Santa Ana, a group of Latinos called a news conference Wednesday to protest what they called the “unmitigated intimidation” of Latino voters. They said they were in the process of asking the FBI, the Justice Department and the state attorney general’s office to investigate.

“How would you like somebody with a badge asking you to prove your citizenship?” asked Wallace R. Davis, a Latino attorney in Santa Ana. “Why didn’t this happen in Newport Beach, in Fountain Valley, in Orange, in Costa Mesa? They did it where they knew Hispanics would come to vote.”

The group urged voters intimidated from voting to come forward, and called for Fuentes to resign.

Fuentes dismissed the call for his resignation as partisan political rhetoric.

“Those are very active Democrats,” he said. “I would imagine in light of the successes of (Tuesday), that would be a delight for them. This is a very partisan election-time typical activity.”

Kim Karie, a Thierbach consultant, likened the use of uniformed guards to tactics in the South in the 1960s when blacks encountered difficulties trying to vote.

“This smacks of the same type of voter discrimination,” Karie said. “This sets a precedent that is devastating to all minorities in this county.”

Similar Stir in Texas

Republicans in Texas also were involved in controversial measures directed at non-citizens at the polling booth.

Across much of southern Texas on Monday and Tuesday, Republicans ran TV and radio advertisements warning undocumented Latinos not to attempt to vote.

Signs warning non-citizens not to vote were posted at dozens of polling places in several Texas border towns, said Todd Winston, a Republican campaign official in Brownsville, Tex. Winston said Republicans had heard reports that Democrats were planning to transport illegal aliens to various precincts in Brownsville “in hopes they could cast a ballot.”

“We were just trying to protect ourselves,” Winston said.

The ads drew sharp criticism from U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, the Democratic candidate for vice president, and other top Democratic Party officials in Texas. Bentsen told a crowd of Texas supporters Monday night that Republicans are not “going to scare us away from the polls.”

Wednesday, a federal prosecutor in McAllen, Tex., said the U.S. Justice Department would investigate allegations that hundreds of aliens, both legal and undocumented, had registered illegally to vote in south Texas.

Times staff writers Dianne Klein, Claudia Luther and David Reyes contributed to this report.