San Fernando Mayor Won’t Have to Run as Write-In Candidate

A judge ruled Tuesday that San Fernando Mayor Daniel Acuna’s name can appear on the ballot for City Council elections despite a paperwork glitch that made him appear ineligible.

Last week, it appeared as if Acuna would be left off the ballot for the April elections because Los Angeles County officials said he waited too long to register to vote after he moved.

The city clerk’s office told Acuna that he would have to run as a write-in candidate because state election laws require a candidate to be registered at his current address when filing an application to run for office.

Acuna’s registration at his new address became effective Feb. 13, two weeks after the filing deadline for the election, said Marcia Ventura of the county registrar’s office.

But Acuna said he filed a change of address card soon after moving in March, 1989. That alone should have been enough to remain on the county’s roll of voters, he said. For good measure, though, Acuna mailed two voter registration cards in January.

“The bottom line is that he registered and that’s all you have to do,” said Acuna’s attorney, Richard S. Singer.

Superior Court Judge Haig Kehiayan agreed with Acuna’s contention that he was eligible to run and authorized the San Fernando city clerk to place the mayor’s name on the ballot.

“I feel like it’s the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one,” Acuna said after the ruling.

Acuna, a former letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, said he mailed the first of two voter registration cards Jan. 19. He mailed the second one Jan. 26, at the urging of the city clerk’s office.

County officials said they never received the first registration card. The second, postmarked Feb. 9, arrived Feb. 13.

“It was just one of those bureaucratic snafus,” Singer said.

Michael Graziano, who serves as city clerk and city administrator, said his office never opposed Acuna’s bid to have his name placed on the ballot. But because the position of city clerk is administrative, Graziano said, he needed a court order to bypass normal procedure.