New Citizens Eager to Vote

They included the young and old, rich and poor, well-educated professionals and lifelong laborers for whom college was a dream for future generations. At a nondescript county office off Interstate 5 in Norwalk, they converged Saturday to exercise one of the most sacrosanct of their new rights.

They came to register to vote for the first time as U.S. citizens.

“I’m just so excited,” gushed Sandra Schaffner, a native of Canada who reared three U.S.-born children but put off becoming a citizen for more than 30 years. “I’ve been waiting so long to be able to do this.”

She was among 500 new citizens who flocked to the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office to take advantage of special weekend hours allowing them to register in time for the Nov. 5 election. Although most voters had an Oct. 7 registration cutoff, a 1993 state law allows tens of thousands of newly naturalized immigrants to register and receive absentee ballots through Tuesday. Those eligible could opt to vote on the spot if they wished.

It was an old-fashioned celebration of civic duty; many dressed in honor of the occasion. Though often baffled by the voting process, the new citizens spoke of a sense of duty in a refreshing, non-self-conscious manner. More than one expressed indignation at the apathy of many U.S. natives.

“I feel this is part of my obligation,” said Ukay Obasi, a 36-year-old accountant from Nigeria whose father was a politician. “This is my voice.”

The Norwalk site, at 12400 Imperial Highway, will open its doors again from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today. Sample ballots are available in six languages. Would-be voters must come in person and show their naturalization certificates.

Those signing up were among the 27,000 new citizens from 126 countries who “naturalized” to U.S. citizenship last week during a three-day mass swearing-in at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The ceremonies were the latest in a record-breaking year for new citizen sign-ups, with national totals expected to top 1 million--approximately tripling the number of just three years ago. California accounts for about one-third of the total, officials say.

The unprecedented surge has sparked a heated partisan debate. Presidential candidate Bob Dole, Gov. Pete Wilson and other Republican leaders have accused the Clinton administration of improperly expediting the process and allowing criminals to sign up in an all-out effort to swell Democratic ranks. The White House has denied any impropriety.

The rush to citizenship has helped push registered voter numbers in Los Angeles County to a record 3.9 million. That makes the nation’s most populous electoral jurisdiction--Chicago’s Cook County is a distant second--a bigger prize than ever. No one knows precisely how many new citizens have signed up to vote, though the number exceeds 51,000 in Los Angeles County alone since January. The nation’s newest citizens seem eager to exert some muscle at the polls. “The interest level is very high,” Conny McCormack, the county’s registrar-recorder and clerk, noted as she surveyed the busy scene in Norwalk. “A lot of these people are from systems that were very restrictive.”

Silvia Gabriela Hotaranu appreciates the privilege. The Romanian native came to the United States in 1991, after the brutal regime of Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed in December 1989. She voted regularly in Romania, but it was all a one-party charade.

“Under the Communists, it was mandatory to vote--although we sometimes wrote in insults on the ballot,” Hotaranu, a 45-year-old economist, recalled as she waited to receive her ballot Saturday.

Although a sympathizer with the GOP program, Hotaranu said she planned to vote for Bill Clinton, whom she finds more appealing as a president.

In that, the Romanian appeared to be in the great majority of new citizens here Saturday. It was difficult to find a supporter of Dole, whom many said they identified with an anti-immigrant agenda. Indeed, a recent poll of newly naturalized Latin Americans--by far the majority of all new citizens in Los Angeles County--indicates an overwhelming preference for Clinton and the Democratic Party.

“I think you’d have to be crazy to be a Latino and vote for Bob Dole,” said Jose Pabon, a dignified, 82-year-old native of Colombia who is the patriarch of a family that includes 36 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Across the room, another octogenarian was equally adamant, though his reasons for voting for Clinton were different. “Bob Dole is too old,” said Yooser Park, 82, a one-time official in the city government of Seoul, South Korea.

But independent analysts caution against making political generalizations about new immigrants. It is an extremely diverse group, typically hard-working and socially conservative, demographers say, and pigeonholing them is a risky endeavor.

Proving one exception was Justa Russi, a 62-year-old homemaker from the San Fernando Valley who left Cuba after Fidel Castro came to power and, like most Cuban exiles, has been an ardent anti-Fidelista ever since.

“To me, the Republicans are almost the most anti-communist, the most anti-Fidelista,” explained Russi, who, like many, was accompanied by her family on her voting sojourn.

Such partisan passions did not figure in the case of Arthur John Painter and his wife, natives of England and longtime residents who have one son in the Army and another in the Navy. Having put off becoming citizens for years, the two were now thrilled to participate.

“It’s our first chance to vote,” said Jeannette Painter, “and we don’t want to miss it.”