Records Show O.C. Vote Inquiry’s Broad Scope

Court records in the voter fraud investigation that focuses on Hermandad Mexicana Nacional show that the scope of the inquiry has dramatically expanded.

In December, The Times disclosed that nearly 20 resident immigrants who received voter registration forms through Hermandad’s citizenship classes acknowledged either registering or voting before being sworn in by a judge--in apparent violation of state law.

But in recent weeks, the Orange County district attorney’s office has seized the files of 434 immigrants whom Hermandad officials describe in court records and interviews as being in the process of applying for citizenship.

And after cross-checking the names of those immigrants against county voter records, an investigation has found that 374 match the names of people who registered to vote. Of those who registered, 220 cast ballots in the Nov. 5 election.

The resident immigrants were listed in court records submitted by the Latino rights organization. But the lists lack enough detail to determine exactly whether the immigrants are the same people who turn up on voter records.

Hermandad officials have repeatedly denied helping any noncitizens to register or vote, although they acknowledge that some overzealous students taking citizenship classes might have done so.

The officials have blamed the Immigration and Naturalization Service for allegedly giving conflicting statements to citizenship applicants. They have accused investigators of threatening witnesses with loss of citizenship, deportation and loss of their jobs if they do not cooperate, a charge law enforcement authorities strongly deny.

And Hermandad has accused Times reporters of distorting the problem in an effort to help ousted Republican incumbent Rep. Robert K. Dornan, who is disputing his narrow loss to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) in the November race.

Even if the resident immigrants turn out to have cast improper ballots, there is no clear indication that invalidating their votes would be enough to overturn the Sanchez victory or any other central Orange County election.

Hermandad attorney Mark Rosen and the organization’s director of operations, Jay Lindsey, this week said in separate interviews that all or nearly all of the immigrants identified in the court records are people who have not yet completed the citizenship process.

After being informed that many of those immigrants had the same names as registered voters, both said they were unsure of the applicants’ exact citizenship status.

Federal law requires that any applicant for citizenship, however, be a legal U.S. resident for at least five years.

In its Jan. 22 motion in Orange County Superior Court, Hermandad sought the return of documents and computers seized in a search of the organization’s Santa Ana offices by investigators for the district attorney and the California secretary of state, which oversees voting issues.

In a telephone interview earlier this week, Lindsey initially said that all of the 434 immigrant files “are active case files,” adding: “It is possible an application would be abandoned [by the INS] if we didn’t get these back.”

Rosen, Hermandad’s attorney, also initially described all 434 files as active citizenship records.

“That is my understanding, that they are all active and for people in different stages of applying for citizenship,” he said.

Rosen had no immediate explanation for why 374 of the names in the active files would match the names of people who registered.

In examining the resident immigrants’ names, The Times compared them to a list of people who registered on affidavits issued to Hermandad by the Orange County registrar of voters. That list also showed whether a person voted.

The list was generated by Dick Lewis, a Newport Beach computer analyst, from data supplied by the registrar.

In comparing the lists, Times reporters discounted any names that appeared to only partially match.

The comparison showed that the names of 374 people who registered at Hermandad before the election matched the names of people who Hermandad says are not yet citizens. It also showed that 220 of those names match the names of people who voted in the Nov. 5 election.

When contacted this week, people who were listed as having registered through Hermandad offered different explanations.

A Santa Ana woman acknowledged that she took citizenship classes at Hermandad and registered to vote there before being sworn in as a citizen. The woman said Hermandad officials told her that she was permitted to register even though she was not yet a citizen. The Times has decided not to publish the names of people who acknowledge possible voting improprieties because there is no evidence that they deliberately sought to violate the law.

“I was asked to sign some papers and told to register for voting,” the woman said. “They told me to remember that I was already registered and not to register again after I was sworn in.”

The woman said she was sworn in as a citizen Sept. 20, and that she did not vote in the November election.

A Santa Ana man whose name is listed on state voting records insisted he has never registered to vote. The records list his name as a voter who registered on Sept. 17 using a Hermandad-issued affidavit and the signature on his registration card appears to match the one on his driver’s license application on file at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“I’m telling you, sir, that I never registered to vote. If my name appeared on a list, I had nothing to do with it,” the man said.

The man said he is waiting to be sworn in as a citizen. Records show he did not vote in November.

The district attorney began looking into alleged voting irregularities in mid-October following a complaint filed by Registrar Rosalyn Lever. Hermandad has been the target of voter fraud allegations by former Rep. Dornan, who lost in November by 984 votes. Dornan has filed an election protest with the House of Representatives, and his lawyers claim that they have identified as many as 2,500 potentially invalid votes.

On Dec. 27, The Times reported that 19 people acknowledged that they registered though they had not completed the naturalization process. In fact, the number is 18. The article also did not make clear that three of the 18 who then voted had taken the oath before the November election. Nevertheless, the three were not qualified to vote because they had improperly registered, according to the secretary of state.

While denying any impropriety, Nativo V. Lopez, the director of Hermandad’s offices in Santa Ana and a newly elected member of the Santa Ana Unified School District board, has declined since December to be interviewed about the allegations, and he did not return a phone message left at his office Friday.

In Hermandad’s Jan. 22 motion in Orange County Superior Court seeking the return of documents and computers seized by authorities, attorneys asked the court to bar prosecutors from sharing any of the material taken in the search with other state, local or federal agencies, including Congress and the INS, as well as the media.

No date has been set to hear the motions. On Wednesday, a judge denied Hermandad’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have barred officials from examining Hermandad membership lists.

Taken in the raid were more than a dozen computers, several hundred client case files, financial documents, payroll records, employee and student rosters, attendance sheets for citizenship classes and other records, according to the motions.

Hermandad’s motion asserts that taking the membership lists is “a direct infringement on Hermandad’s First Amendment right of political association and free speech.”

“Hermandad has become a controversial organization,” the court filing states, adding that having its membership lists in the hands of the district attorney “may well be sufficient to scare people away from Hermandad.”

In addition, the organization seeks the return of financial and bookkeeping records so it can operate and file tax returns due Feb. 15. These “are necessary for the maintenance of nonprofit status,” according the court papers.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade said his office had not sought nor does it have any interest in the membership lists in the computers. “I am not sure we have them,” he said.

Wade also said his office will not release any of the documents to the public and has had the search warrant affidavit sealed to protect the investigation.