17th Candidate Allowed Into Race for Roybal Seat

Public relations and marketing consultant Helen Hernandez filed Monday for the June Democratic primary in the 30th Congressional District after a judge extended last Friday’s filing deadline for her.

Earlier, she had been ruled ineligible to file because she had been dropped from voter rolls in January. Hernandez, 44, became the 17th candidate on the primary ballot, including nine other Democrats, to fill the seat of longtime Democratic Rep. Edward R. Roybal of Los Angeles, who is retiring.

Marcia Ventura, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office, said it received notice of a court order just minutes before last Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline, requiring election officials to extend the filing deadline for Hernandez until 5 p.m. Monday.

County officials had ruled her ineligible, Ventura said, because Hernandez did not meet the requirement that a person seeking public office be a registered voter for 60 continuous days before filing nomination papers. A notice was sent to Hernandez at her home in Arcadia, explaining that she was dropped because she had not voted at that residence since 1990.

Hernandez and her two attorneys went to a Sacramento Superior Court judge, contending that she was mistakenly dropped from the voter rolls. They maintained that she was a qualified voter in Arcadia--where she had lived before a divorce several years ago.

“For some reason, a mistake was made with my voter registration,” Hernandez said after she met the extended filing deadline Monday. “There was no administrative remedy for this glitch, so I went to court.”

Judge James T. Ford agreed with Hernandez’s contention and directed Los Angeles County officials to reinstate her status as a registered voter at a home in the 1100 block of Panorama Drive in Arcadia, which is not in the 30th Congressional District.

Papers filed on behalf of Hernandez show she has established a residence in the Echo Park area, which is in the district.