State Joins Probe Into Voter Registration in 39th District

An investigator from the secretary of state’s office in Sacramento has joined in a probe of possible voter registration fraud in the northeastern San Fernando Valley.

Secretary of State Bill Jones announced at a news conference in Norwalk on Friday that he had sent one of his staff to help look into allegations that several noncitizens had recently signed up to vote in the 39th Assembly District, the scene of a bitterly contested primary among five Democratic candidates.

“California will not accept any voter fraud or any effort at all not to follow the rules,” Jones said.

His offer of assistance came as the county registrar-recorder’s office continued its review of a list of names belonging to people who candidate Jim Dantona contends may have registered illegally.

Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack confirmed this week that at least 18 people on Dantona’s list of about 100 admitted in follow-up telephone calls that they were not citizens. Those names have been stricken from the voter rolls.

But McCormack’s office is continuing to investigate whether the invalid sign-ups were part of a wider pattern of possible voter fraud by recruiters, or “bounty hunters,” paid for each registration. Checks of the 18 invalid voter applications showed several repeat names of recruiters who helped the noncitizens fill out the forms.

Whether the recruiters knew of their citizenship status beforehand, yet still pressed them to register, must be determined. “This is not a minor offense when it’s done willfully,” Jones said.

Also, McCormack and Allen Field of the district attorney’s office, who met to discuss the case Thursday, emphasized that illegal registrations do not necessarily translate into actual votes cast. For example, of the 103 names submitted by Dantona, only one person had written in for an absentee ballot.

None of the major candidates--Dantona, Tony Cardenas and Valerie Salkin--has hired an outside voter-recruitment agency, according to campaign spending records.