Registration Error Could Cost Mayor a Place on Ballot : Election: Daniel Acuna waited too long to register to vote at his new address in San Fernando. He might have to run for reelection as a write-in candidate.

San Fernando Mayor Daniel Acuna may have to run as a write-in candidate for a City Council seat in the April election because he waited too long to register to vote at his current address, officials said Wednesday.

Acuna moved from his old address eight months ago but did not re-register to vote until Jan. 26, six days before the deadline for filing his application to run for office, city and county officials said.

The new registration only became effective Tuesday, said Henrietta Willis, a spokeswoman with the Los Angeles County registrar’s office.

Michael Graziano, who serves as both city administrator and city clerk, said state election laws require a candidate to be registered at his current address when filing an application to run for office.

“It’s a highly technical point,” Graziano said, “but still significant in terms of the impact it has on candidates. When you’re a candidate for public office, you’ve got to read all the fine print.”

Graziano said Acuna may still run as a write-in candidate.

Acuna, 49, said he was surprised to learn that he was in violation of state election laws.

“I’ve been a registered voter in the city of San Fernando for 25 years,” Acuna said, adding that it simply did not occur to him to re-register sooner. “I didn’t anticipate tripping over red tape. But that’s the bureaucracy, and it sucks.”

A former member of the city’s Planning Commission, Acuna was elected to the City Council in 1986. He was selected as the city’s mayor by the four other council members last April, when Roy Richardson resigned from the post for personal reasons.

Council members said they were notified of Acuna’s predicament in a memo issued by the city clerk’s office Tuesday.

“It’s sloppiness on his part,” Councilman Doude Wysbeek said. “My philosophy is that he should take the election process a little more seriously, especially being an incumbent.”

Acuna said he is appealing to the county registrar’s office to waive the technicality.

“If for some reason we can’t come to an agreement,” Acuna said, “I’m going to have to run as a write-in candidate, which I would prefer not to do. It means I have to work a little harder.”

City elections are April 10. In addition to Acuna, council members Wysbeek and Evelio Franco are up for reelection. Franco has said he will not seek reelection.