700 Noncitizen Voters Dropped

California’s top election official decided Thursday that more than 700 Los Angeles County residents--who registered to vote but said they are not U.S. citizens--should be excluded from the voter rolls for the upcoming presidential election.

After questions were raised by The Times, Secretary of State Bill Jones directed voter registrars in the state’s 58 counties not to put noncitizens on the voter rolls after they filled out voter registration forms under the state’s new “motor voter” law.

Jones said “it flies in the face of common sense” to allow individuals to vote who indicated on the form they are not American citizens.

“This is the correct decision,” he said. “I may or may not be supported” legally.

Earlier in the day, Jones had said he had no choice but to follow legal advice and have the counties place noncitizens on the voter rolls if they said they were eligible by signing their voter registration form under penalty of perjury.

The motor voter law, intended to increase voter registration, allows citizens to register to vote when they seek or renew driver’s licenses at DMV offices. The registration form is attached to the driver’s license application, however, and the problem came up when officials discovered that the forms were being given to noncitizens too. People who are in this country legally can get a driver’s license.

In Los Angeles County, 727 people completed the voter registration forms at DMV offices but indicated that they were not citizens. But those same people also signed the form, which pledges under penalty of perjury that they are a U.S. citizen at least 18 years old and thus eligible to vote.

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack said the decision is “a triumph of reason and common sense over a dubious legal interpretation.”

The registrar-recorder’s office first raised concerns about the problem in August 1995.

McCormack has been struggling with the secretary of state over whether to place the individuals involved on the voter rolls for the November election.

Concerned about the prospect that noncitizens could wind up voting in Los Angeles County, McCormack sought legal advice from the secretary of state and county counsel about what to do with the 727 cases.

She was advised that those signing the form under penalty of perjury saying they met the qualifications to register must be allowed to vote. Not satisfied with the legal advice, McCormack decided to send letters to the registrants seeking to confirm their citizenship status.

In the first mailing, 483 people were queried. The vast majority--369--did not respond. Of those who did, 14 said they are in fact U.S. citizens and will be allowed to vote; 93 said they are not citizens. An additional 244 confirmation letters are now being mailed.

“Because of ongoing public concerns and news media coverage about illegal voter registrations by noncitizens, we advocate sending the confirmation letters before adding these registrations to the county’s voter file,” Assistant Registrar Recorder Darlene M. Bonds wrote to the county counsel’s office.

After being interviewed, Jones reversed his previous position in a letter sent to McCormack.

“The public expects us as election officials to take common sense and reasonable steps to ensure that only those persons who are eligible register and vote,” he said.

A federal court ordered the state to proceed with the “motor voter” law in June 1995 after Gov. Pete Wilson lost a final legal challenge. The Republican governor had argued unsuccessfully that the program was too costly and there were “too few protections against widespread voter fraud.”

In response to reports in The Times, Jones sent a letter to the head of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service on Thursday requesting that the agency provide his office with the names, addresses and birth dates of 69 newly naturalized citizens in Los Angeles who may have criminal records. Jones said he needs the information to ensure those individuals are not registered voters.

Agency officials said those individuals were allowed to become U.S. citizens by mistake before the FBI completed criminal background checks. “We are currently investigating these 69 cases to determine which individuals warrant revocation or removal of their citizenship,” INS spokesman Eric Andrus said in Washington.

Contrary to earlier reports, Andrus said, the INS is moving as quickly as possible to approve regulations that will allow the agency to revoke the naturalization of those with a criminal history. He said INS will “make every effort” to ensure that election officials get the names of those who have citizenship revoked so they can be removed from voter rolls.

Times staff writer Dave Lesher in Sacramento contributed to this story.