Ad Re-Enacts Poll Guard Controversy : Politics: Commercial encourages Latinos to vote. It criticizes 1988 incident in which Orange County GOP hired guards warning non-citizens against voting.

Voting isn’t supposed to be scary.

But it was for some Latinos in 1988, when 20 uniformed security guards hired by the Republican Party in Orange County stood guard at polling places in some predominantly Latino neighborhoods. Some guards held signs written in Spanish and English warning those who were not citizens that it was illegal to vote.

Now, some hard-edged advertising is taking a second look at the controversy. The campaign, created by a Los Angeles production company and filmed in Santa Ana, encourages Latinos to vote in the Nov. 6 election. It makes its point in both Spanish and English versions by essentially re-creating the events of two years ago that have since resulted in civil and criminal actions.

The 30-second commercial, which began airing this week on several Spanish-language and cable TV stations in Los Angeles and Orange counties, shows Latino voters who are confronted by ominous-looking security men at the polls. A narrator states, “In 1988, some politicians tried to prevent you from voting by scaring you away from the polls.”

Then, the narrator says, “What’s next?” The ad then shows stern-faced security guards watching over Latinos at hospitals, schools, and even keeping tabs on children at a playground.

“We fought back and won,” the narrator says, in reference to the $400,000 that the Orange County Republican Party paid to five Latino voters in a settlement of a civil lawsuit after the incident. “Don’t be afraid. Please come out and vote.”

Plaintiffs donated some of the damages from the suit--nearly $50,000--to pay for the ad campaign. Besides the black-and-white TV ads, there also are radio spots and billboards.

The man who directed, filmed and co-wrote the TV spot said he had a particularly strong motivation. “I was born in South Africa,” said Michael Oblowitz. “And I was never a fan of this kind of intimidation. I brought a lot of my experience into play in this commercial.”

Oblowitz, who may be best known in the United States for directing music videos for Carly Simon and Smokey Robinson, directed an award-winning 1979 documentary on Nelson Mandela--long before many Americans were familiar with the leader of the African National Congress.

The rather grainy, stark look of the commercial is similar to that in videotapes of the 1988 incidents that Oblowitz studied before creating the ad.

Earlier this month, filming of the commercial at Santa Ana High School was abruptly halted when some school officials objected to the school becoming the commercial set for what they felt had become a political issue. The commercial was completed at a nearby church.

Why is this commercial running two years after the incident?

“We’re concerned that some people who heard about this incident might be scared away from voting,” said Lowell Finley, partner in the San Francisco law firm Remcho, Johansen & Purcell, which filed the suit on behalf of the Latino voters. “If this were to fade from memory, there’s nothing to stop it from seeping back into future elections.”