Reseda Man Nearly Loses Right to Vote After Listing Tarzana Address : Election: Postal Service warns voters not to try to upgrade neighborhoods on registration forms.

Residents of the San Fernando Valley’s many communities bicker over boundaries and name changes, priding themselves on their differences, until they sometimes forget that most of them really live in the city of Los Angeles.

On Tuesday, the last day to register to vote in the November election, it was just such a fine distinction that almost cost a man his right to vote.

Lee H. Greene, 42, said that when he moved to what he thought was Tarzana about a month ago, he promptly registered to vote with the County Registrar-Recorder, using his new address.

After weeks of waiting with no response, fearing his application might have been lost, Greene called the county office.

“They told me they received it but were rejecting it because . . . I listed Tarzana as my community instead of Reseda,” Greene said.

After a few phone calls, the saga was cleared up for Greene. The registrar’s office ruled that he could register as a Tarzana resident as long as his address in the 6300 block of Tunney Street was correct.

Registrar spokeswoman Marcia Ventura said officials had confirmed with the Regional Post Office in Van Nuys that some residents in Greene’s neighborhood have been listing their Reseda residences as in Tarzana, and that that was officially acceptable to the post office.

The lesson: Don’t try to upgrade to a more prestigious neighborhood on voter registration forms.

“All these areas are actually Los Angeles . . . When they put their own local communities (on the application), it slows things down a bit,” she said.

About four years ago, community activists presented the mayor’s office with a stack of 27 hand-drawn maps of Valley communities hoping the city would make the boundaries official. That still hasn’t happened.

“The community map has not been officially adopted by the City Council,” said Eric Rose, spokesman for Councilwoman Laura Chick’s office, whose district contains Reseda and parts of Tarzana. “The post office is allowing (residents) to call it Tarzana but the map is still in committee right now.”

Because there are no official boundaries for communities in the Valley--the Thomas Bros. guides, police boundaries and postal zones sometimes contradict each other--most boundaries are established by word of mouth and tradition, officials said.

Ultimately, “you can call yourself whatever you want, but everybody lives in the city of Los Angeles,” said Rose, who handles about one boundary related call a month.

Ventura said the registrar’s office puts aside many voter registration cards that are not completed properly, but rarely has to do so because of community boundary disputes. The office is provided with tentative community boundaries from the county assessor’s office. “They showed the address to be in Reseda,” Ventura said.

Tarzana or Reseda, Greene was always in the 24th Congressional District, which covers most of the southwestern part of the Valley and he was using an accurate ZIP code, which is the criteria for sorting mail, Rose said.

“I have moved twice in the last 10 years and I have never had a problem before,” Greene said. “I am pretty diligent about voting . . . and if I wouldn’t have made the phone call, I don’t think I would have been registered.”