Lawsuit Planned Over Guards at Polling Places

Democratic and Latino leaders said Monday that they will file suit to overturn the 72nd Assembly District election results, alleging that uniformed security guards hired by the Orange County Republican Party interfered with voters casting ballots in Santa Ana precincts.

The lawsuit was announced at a press conference at Our Lady del Pilar Church in Santa Ana, one of 20 polling places where guards were stationed last Tuesday. Among those endorsing the lawsuit at the press conference was Raoul Silva, a member of the state Republican Central Committee.

On another front, Registrar of Voters Donald F. Tanney was trying to assess the possible damage from a breach of security Sunday at the registrar’s office in which thousands of uncounted absentee ballots were left unguarded in a room accessible to the public through an unlocked door.

Tanney said about 32,000 absentee ballots that were secured in a locked room until Thursday had been moved to the warehouse to await a final count. He said the ballots were sealed and it did not appear that any had been tampered with, but he admitted that it will be difficult to determine if any were missing.

“It would be very hard to determine if any were taken,” Tanney said, adding that no one apparently knew exactly how many ballots were yet to be counted.

The incident involving guards stationed by the Republican Party in Santa Ana precincts evoked outrage among Democrats, who say it may have affected the outcome of the race in the 72nd District. After a bitter battle, Republican Curt Pringle apparently defeated Democrat Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach by about 700 votes, although some absentee ballots have not been counted.

The hiring of the uniformed guards has drawn strong criticism from Republicans as well as Democrats.

Lawyer Lowell Finley of San Francisco, who is preparing the lawsuit, said it will be filed on behalf of “numerous” individuals who say in affidavits that they were intimidated by the presence of the uniformed guards when they attempted to vote. Some, he said, never voted and others returned later in the day when they were assured that the guards had left.

While Finley did not name the possible plaintiffs, saying Democratic leaders want to “leave them in peace” until the suit is filed in federal court, he said the uniformed guards were clearly meant to scare away Latino voters.

Times staff writer Carla Rivera contributed to this article.