Keeping an Eye on Balloting Behind the Scenes

The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it will send three of its voting rights lawyers to monitor Southern California polling places today to ensure that minority voters are not intimidated at their precincts.

One lawyer is assigned to Orange County, where charges of possible voter intimidation have arisen in almost every election since 1988. County Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever said she was told Monday that the attorney will be “in and around Orange County.”

Two others will be stationed in Los Angeles to field complaints from Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

The lawyers are part of a team of 141 poll observers that Justice officials said will be deployed today in five states as voters pick candidates in federal, state and local elections.

Southern California is the only place observers are being sent to monitor possible intimidation of minority voters, according to a Justice Department statement released Monday. Observers will be sent elsewhere to oversee compliance with other provisions of the Voting Rights Act.

The election is pivotal for Orange County residents, even though it isn’t a presidential year. That is because the candidates elected will determine the future of the county and state well into the 21st century.

Voters in Orange County will elect two county supervisors, and one candidate would help stymie plans to replace the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station with an international airport. Statewide, the Legislature and the governor will determine how voting districts are redrawn after the 2000 census.

Both parties say they want to guard against any intimidation at the polls, and both have volunteer lawyers ready to handle complaints from campaigns.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department also issued a stern warning Monday that videotaping minority voters at or near the polls could violate the Voting Rights Act. The warning was in response to a Republican Party plan in two North Carolina counties to tape voters who, Republicans claim, cast ballots more than once in heavily Democratic precincts.

“The Justice Department is committed to vigorously enforcing our nation’s voting laws,” Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said. “And we will not tolerate harassment of minority voters.”

‘88 Poll Guard Incident Still Has Repercussions

In Northern California, the department is sending 10 federal observers to Alameda County to monitor the availability of voting materials and other assistance for Chinese-speaking voters.

In New York City and in counties in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, federal observers are being sent to ensure the availability of native-language voting materials and proper election day voter assistance.

No problems are anticipated in Los Angeles, though observers are expected to respond to any issues that arise, said Richard Drooyan, the chief assistant U.S. attorney there.

Concerns about voter intimidation in Orange County have surfaced in nearly every election since uniformed security guards were hired in 1988 by Republicans and the Assembly campaign of Curt Pringle to patrol heavily Latino polling places in Santa Ana.

A Justice Department official, speaking on grounds of anonymity, said the agency began monitoring the activities of poll watchers across the nation ever since Orange County’s poll guard incident.

The League of United Latin American Citizens has lodged official requests for federal observers in every election since then. An observer was sent for the general election in 1994.

“Democracy finally will have a chance at the polls in Orange County,” said Arturo Montez, who monitors voting rights for LULAC. “Now the responsibility falls on the Latino community to get to the polls.”

Central Orange County again is the site of several hotly fought races, including the rematch between Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) and Republican Robert K. Dornan, the longtime congressman she upset two years ago. Assemblyman Jim Morrissey (R-Santa Ana) and state Sen. Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove) also face serious challenges from Democrats Lou Correa and Joe Dunn.

Dornan challenged his election loss two years ago, claiming he was robbed of his seat by votes cast illegally by noncitizens. A House investigation ruled that 743 noncitizens had voted in the race, not enough to overturn the results.

On Monday, with polls showing her ahead, Sanchez took the day off--the third day in four she did no campaigning at all.

“I think it’s a sign of her needing to get her hair done, actually, not a sign of her confidence,” spokesman Lee Godown said. “The fact is she’s been campaigning for two years; she wants to take some personal time.”

Sanchez plans to join county Democrats tonight at the party’s election night gathering at the Disneyland Hotel.

At Dornan campaign headquarters, campaign manager and son Mark Dornan said family members were getting little sleep between walking precincts, handing out campaign literature and preparing for tonight’s festivities at the Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach, where the state GOP will have its election gathering.

Other Agencies Also Monitoring Precincts

Separate from the Justice Department’s effort, the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI will operate a unit today to receive citizen complaints of voter intimidation and fraud in Southern California.

The unit is assembled for presidential primaries and for every general election. Voters can report possible violations by calling federal prosecutors at (213) 894-2434 or the FBI at (310) 477-6565.

Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, it is illegal to use intimidation, threats or coercion to prevent people from voting; or to bribe voters, forge ballots, alter vote tallies or coerce the votes of the poor, the elderly and the illiterate.

Federal law also protects voters’ rights to mark their ballots in private and to be assisted by a person of their choice, if they desire.

Secretary of State Bill Jones’ office operates a voter fraud hotline for complaints at (800) 345-VOTE. The office has issued public warnings in advance of every election since 1996 that intimidation of voters won’t be tolerated, spokeswoman Beth Miller said.

Volunteer attorneys working with state Democratic and Republican parties will field calls today from campaigns complaining of voter intimidation or other election day problems.

Coby King, a lawyer directing the statewide Democratic Party effort, said volunteer monitoring began after the Santa Ana poll guard incident.

“The party is very concerned about Orange County,” King said. “But I’m confident that the registrar, the Department of Justice, local police and the district attorney’s office are sensitized to the need to keep a close eye on these races.”

Some Republican volunteer attorneys also will respond to complaints from GOP campaigns in Orange County, state party political director Mike Madrid said.

Polling places are scheduled to open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. In Orange County, 120,000 voters already had cast absentee ballots by Monday, and an additional 103,000 absentee ballots have yet to be returned. Voters with absentee ballots can drop them off at any polling place today.