Latino Groups Appreciate New Guide for Voters

A coalition of Latino groups praised Orange County officials Wednesday for releasing new election material explaining that citizens naturalized less than 30 days before an election are eligible to vote.

“Nobody knew about this, because the materials they routinely published didn’t include it,” Santa Ana attorney Jess Araujo said.

The county’s Voting Guide for New Citizens spells out a state law that allows people to register after the regular 30-day cutoff if they are sworn in as citizens in the interim.

New citizens must visit the registrar’s office in person at least five days before an election and show proof of naturalization to the registrar of voters.

Assistant Registrar Don Taylor said his office has made efforts since 1994 to inform new citizens about the exception to the cutoff. Officials have distributed fliers at federal swearing-in ceremonies less than 30 days before an election telling new citizens how to register and vote, he said.

“It’s a very small percentage of people who qualify under the law, and we’d been focusing just on that group,” Taylor said. “We hope this additional brochure will help clarify for people in the citizenship process that you have to complete your swearing-in to be eligible to vote.”

Every citizenship applicant should be aware of the law, said Galal Hernandez of Los Amigos de Orange County. He said counties like Santa Barbara regularly inform new citizens of their voting rights in newspaper advertisements and election materials before an election.

Three other community groups--Orange County Community Forum, Latin American Voters of America and Hermandad Mexicana Nacional--joined Los Amigos in praising the registrar for the new voting guides.

Hermandad was cleared last year in a criminal investigation of voter fraud resulting from the 1996 election defeat of Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove). Dornan contended Hermandad fraudulently registered voters before they became citizens.

He also challenged Sanchez’s election in the House, which investigated and ruled that 748 noncitizens had cast ballots. Dornan lost by 984 votes.

Registrar officials have been working with community groups in the past year to produce the new brochure, which is being distributed in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, Taylor said.

In June, about 50 new citizens registered after the 30-day cutoff, he said, because there was only one swearing-in ceremony in May, held in Los Angeles. About 550 new citizens registered in the month before the November 1996 general election, he said.