Identity Crisis in the Voting Booth

* I am somewhat confused about the mechanics of the proposal of Assemblyman Dick Ackerman (R-Fullerton) for more identification to be required for voting (“Bill Pushed to Require I.D. at Voting Booth,” Feb. 16).

When I was first old enough to vote, I was living at home with my parents. How would I have shown proof of residency? I guess I could have a copy of my parents’ utility bills or something of the sort, but then if such copies were allowed, anybody could claim residency with possibly illegally copied utility bills. Would I be restricted to voting at the same time as my parents so that they could vouch for my residency at their home? And what about those of us who vote by absentee ballot; how do we show our residency?

Republicans claim to be in favor of less government regulation, but many Republican- sponsored bills seem to engender a great deal of government intervention and inconvenience when the mechanics are considered.

I do wonder what the real Republican agenda is when I see such bills as Ackerman’s which, in practice, would, contrary to the assemblyman’s claim, be difficult to comply with. So I give this question to Ackerman: Who will be verifying people’s identifications?

DAVID SNYDER

Los Alamitos

* The decision about who is qualified to vote must be made by the county registrar of voter’s office, or in some cases by the secretary of state’s office.

Poll workers who volunteer to do their “civic duty” receive only a small stipend for a very long work day, and do not need any more chores put upon them. They would probably need to be deputized in order to refuse the right to vote to someone who is listed on the roster prepared by the registrar’s office, which indicates those eligible to ballot at local precincts.

As a sometime poll worker, I feel what needs to be done is to revamp the voter registration forms to show a specific means of identification (Social Security or driver’s license number) so that it is available when the registrar receives the voter affidavit, whether mailed or filled out in person.

In this electronic age there could be sufficient cross-checks made to eliminate voters who are attempting to register illegally, or who may be just confused by the procedure.

In addition, I believe the time has come for elections to be conducted by mail or computer. Citizens sitting in the comfort of their homes may well make more educated choices than making a hurried trip to a polling place. And the cost of recruiting workers and setting up polling places could be eliminated. Making voting more convenient might even lead to less apathy!

MARTHA ABELL

Seal Beach

* Finally, the Orange County district attorney’s office is looking into possible illegal voter registration by Hermandad Mexicana Nacional and voting by noncitizens.

For years, citizens suspected that noncitizens were voting in our elections, so it was no surprise to learn Hermandad Mexicana signed up noncitizens to vote in last November’s elections.

Voter registration forms make it very clear only citizens of this country can register to vote. It is disturbing to hear Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), the executive director of Hermandad, Nativo Lopez, and other immigrant rights groups playing down and making excuses for the registration of noncitizens.

Lopez has called The Times “racist” for reporting the facts concerning the illegal voter registration scandal and the illegal lottery held by Hermandad. Illegal voter registration and violation of election laws, not race, are the real issues in the district attorney’s investigation.

GEORGE ESTRADA

Santa Ana

* Today, with the election of Loretta Sanchez to Congress, unseating Republican firebrand Robert K. Dornan, public discussion revolves around the awakening of the Latino “sleeping giant.”

But this characterization implicitly faults the historically low Latino electoral turnout on the community itself without questioning other factors. To understand the situation one only has to look to history.

In the past the Democratic Party, and to a greater extent the Republican Party, has done little to democratize the Latino population in California. This fact becomes evident when one looks at the outreach toward European ethnic communities by the Democratic Party and its boss machines of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Can the same be stated about the actions of the machine and party politics of the counties of Los Angeles and Orange? The answer is no.

The mutual aid societies and ward heelers of the late 19th century and early 20th century, like Hermandad Mexicana Nacional of Orange County in 1996, democratized and Americanized immigrant communities that would later provide the vital leadership of the nation.

And, yes, some corruption did exist. But what was the overall result? The election of ethnic European American candidates who served their communities and others. It is in this light that we should look at the past in order to better understand the present.

FRANK BARAJAS

Associate Professor of Chicano

and U.S. History

Cypress College

* Regarding the three Feb. 23 letters to the editor, “Illegal Voting Outcry Overdone”:

The outrage regarding noncitizens voting in our elections can never be overdone. Our sovereignty as a free democratic nation depends on the integrity of the voting system.

Picture identification should be required at the time of voting, but more importantly, a birth certificate or naturalization number needs to be presented to a registrar by first-time voters registering to vote.

Absentee ballots are the “key to the vault” for voter fraud and must be scaled back to the original purpose: people who will be out of town on election day or people who are physically unable to go to the polls.

LARRY BROWN

Santa Ana

* To those who find anger and frustration in the Bob Dornan Political Theater, take heart. A rare opportunity to defeat Dornan twice for the same office may be its most fortunate outcome.

BARRY YARNELL

Garden Grove

* Regarding Dixon Gayer’s Feb. 23 letter on illegal voting:

Comparing a change in citizenship to a graduation ceremony is a prime example of twisted logic.

The citizenship course is only the preparation for becoming a citizen. No matter how many times he drives a car a person is not a legal driver until he passes the driver’s test and receives his driver’s license.

No matter how many times they may have already slept together, a man and a woman are not legally married until they exchange their solemn vows before a religious or civic authority and two witnesses and their vows are duly recorded.

No matter how many hours I spent studying English, American history and American government, I did not become an American citizen until I took a solemn oath administered by a U.S. judge, before witnesses and my oath was duly recorded. With that oath I swore to renounce Italy, my native country, and to devote my undivided love and loyalty to the United States of America.

It was my oath, freely and truthfully pledged, and not the ceremony during which I pronounced it, that changed me, an immigrant, into an American citizen. Do the immigrants who voted illegally in Orange County understand that? Does Gayer understand that? Do those other Americans who--in misguided good faith--defend or condone such an action?

LIDA M. BATES

Laguna Hills