INS Will Help Compare Records to O.C. Vote Data

Federal immigration officials said Monday that they will try to meet a request by California Secretary of State Bill Jones to compare Orange County’s 1.3 million voter registrations against federal immigration records to determine if widespread voter fraud exists.

Richard Rogers, Immigration and Naturalization Service district director, said the major stumbling block will be the sheer size of the effort. He added that his agency wants to be certain that the review is being done for legitimate law enforcement reasons.

“I was assured of that on Friday” by the secretary of state’s staff, Rogers said, adding that INS lawyers had concurred. “It appears on the surface to conform to the law enforcement exemption” of the Privacy Act, he said.

Citing evidence of alleged voter fraud at the offices of a Latino rights organization, Jones asked Rogers on Friday to help in an unprecedented review of Orange County’s voters.

Jones’ request was the result of an audit that found that 721 of the 1,160 people who registered to vote on cards issued to Hermandad Mexicana Nacional were not citizens at the time. Of that number, 442 unlawfully cast ballots in the Nov. 5 election, Jones said.

He said the number of allegedly fraudulent registrations connected to Hermandad Mexicana Nacional is “the biggest in [recent state] history,” and he expressed concern about the integrity of the voting system.

Attorneys for Hermandad have disputed Jones’ findings and have denied any wrongdoing.

Jones said the countywide voter registration review would be used primarily to determine if the system is open to fraud. He said he would not prosecute anyone who mistakenly registered improperly, but he wants those “who intentionally seek to defraud [to] understand there is a price to pay when they are caught.”

Latino rights organizations, civil libertarians and others have criticized the proposed review, saying it would be fraught with possible violations of the privacy rights of law-abiding citizens. Some have described INS records as shoddy and unreliable.

Democrats have also attacked the plan as being partisan, and said it seems to be designed to help the effort of ousted Republican Rep. Robert K. Dornan, who is challenging in Congress his November loss to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove). Jones is a Republican.

“Mr. Jones now bears a heavy obligation to more than 1 million voters in five congressional districts that their fundamental right to privacy is protected,” said Steve Jost, Sanchez’s chief of staff. “The congresswoman regrets that the people throughout Orange County need to be put through this process to vindicate her election victory. Any effort to ensure the integrity of the election process is worthwhile, so long as the Constitution is not trampled in the process.”

Reached late Monday, Rob Lapsley, Jones’ chief of staff, said he had yet to talk with Rogers about the INS decision. “We look forward to working with them,” he said. “This will take unparalleled cooperation between the two agencies.”