ELECTIONS ’88 : State Assails GOP’s Posting of Poll Guards

Uniformed security guards hired by the Republican Party of Orange County were removed from Santa Ana polling places Tuesday morning after the chief deputy secretary of state termed their presence “unlawful intimidation of voters.”

Outraged Democratic Party leaders had charged that the guards were harassing Latino voters in the bitterly contested 72nd Assembly District, writing down automobile license plate numbers and challenging voters to prove that they are U.S. citizens.

Santa Ana police were investigating charges that at least 20 security guards, clad in blue uniforms and wearing badges, had interfered with voters at Santa Ana polling places and displayed signs in English and Spanish warning against voting by non-citizens, officials said.

Orange County Registrar of Voters Donald F. Tanney said the matter would probably be referred to the district attorney’s office by the end of the week.

Republican Party Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes confirmed that the security guards “were part of our Election Day security effort” in mostly Latino neighborhoods in central and south Santa Ana. Along with the uniformed guards, signs in English and Spanish were posted outside polling places warning non-citizens that it is a felony to vote.

Fuentes termed the charges of harassment and intimidation “a media event” created by Democrats, and he denied that the guards had in any way interfered with voters.

However, the Democratic candidate in the 72nd Assembly District, Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach of Anaheim, blasted the GOP’s use of uniformed observers.

“It shows me the people in control of the Orange County Republican Party are desperate, ruthless individuals who would stop at nothing to get what they want,” Thierbach said, referring to the all-out GOP effort on behalf of his Republican opponent, Curt Pringle.

Stunned Latino leaders from both political parties sharply condemned the GOP’s ballot tactics.

Santa Ana Councilman John Acosta predicted that Republicans had set back party efforts to recruit Latinos “by 20 years.” Positioning uniformed guards outside polling places is “totally, totally un-American. It smacks of Nazism. . . .”

But David Gilliard, a consultant to Pringle, said their campaign “received a tip” several weeks ago to watch for “voting irregularities” on Election Day.

“We were more concerned about the potential for vote fraud than how this looked to the public,” Gilliard said. “There is a lot at stake in this race.” So far Pringle and Thierbach have raised a combined campaign fund of $2.1 million, making the contest one of the most expensive in California.

Acosta, a longtime Republican, said he was “very, very hurt” by the decision to post guards at polling places in heavily Latino areas. “The dignity of the Republican Party has been damaged beyond belief.”

‘Lapse in Judgment’

Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, one of the GOP’s most prominent Latinos in California, said the episode “showed a tremendous lapse in judgment. . . . I am extremely disappointed.”

The security guards carried an instruction sheet with a referral number that rang at Pringle’s campaign headquarters. But Pringle said Tuesday night that his campaign had nothing to do with the county Republican Party’s decision to post uniformed observers at some of the polls. Party officials said that number was given in the flyer because their get-out-the-vote effort was centered at Pringle’s campaign headquarters.

Pringle said the guards were at the polls solely for “informational purposes,” but he added, “I think it’s a shame they were uniformed. I don’t think that was very appropriate. Yet all they were doing there was to watch.”

Tony Miller, chief deputy secretary of state, said he doubted that his agency would press charges because no voter has complained of being afraid to vote. Miller noted that after he called Republican Party officials, they called off their private guards. But he termed the presence of the guards, some of whom sat alongside election officials at the polls, intimidating.

‘Unlawful Intimidation’

Posting signs in both English and Spanish, “the security guards were indicating to voters that voting by non-citizens is a felony,” Miller said. “That is unlawful intimidation of voters. It’s a statement of the law which is accurate. But that comment by guards who are not election officials is deemed to be unlawful intimidation.”

Paul Garza, executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County said his office began fielding complaints soon after the polls opened Tuesday.

“They were just challenging every Hispanic voter,” Garza said. “We feel this is a violation of their civil rights. We’ve heard about this being done along the Rio Grande in Texas. But it’s unconscionable that it is being done in Orange County.”

Across much of southern Texas Monday and Tuesday, Republicans ran TV and radio advertisements warning undocumented Latinos not to attempt to vote.

Party officials chose Pringle to face Thierbach after incumbent Assemblyman Richard E. Longshore (R-Santa Ana) died one day after the June 7 GOP primary.

Republican Party Chairman Fuentes said he and other party officials were concerned that in 11 central county precincts in the 72nd District there were no Republicans on the polling boards observing the election.

Fuentes said the party also had received reports of invalid voter registrations in that area in recent months. The hired guards were told to look for vans or buses rolling up to a polling place and then taking the same voters to a second polling place, Fuentes said.

But Fuentes said the guards “were instructed not to speak to any voters whatsoever and to remain at a legal distance from a polling place--100 feet.”

Pringle campaign manager Marcia Gilchrist said party officials believed that in the past, vanloads of noncitizens had cast ballots illegally. However, Registrar Tanney said he recently met with Republican officials to discuss those concerns and told them that there was “not a shred of evidence” that any such event had occurred.

Tanney, concerned about reports that the guards were intimidating voters, visited a Santa Ana polling place, accompanied by Vasquez and Supervisor Roger R. Stanton. Outside the polling place, the Boys Club on Highland Avenue, a security guard had posted a sign that said in English and Spanish “Non-citizens can’t vote” (Si Tu No Es Ciudadano No Vote). “

Poll worker Diane Goss said that at first she thought that the guard had been hired by the Boys Club. But once he posted his sign in the walkway entering the gym, Goss said that she asked him to leave the voting area and that he moved to a location more than 100 feet away from the booths.

Tanney said it was “too early” to tell if the sign posted by the security guard was illegal. “It’s too early to make a judgment. . . . This is not a case where someone’s arm was twisted. . . . I can’t say if any voters were intimidated.”

Tanney said, however, that some of his poll workers mistakenly thought that the security guards had been hired by the county.

The guards were from Saddleback Security of Mission Viejo, which was hired to work the polls by a Newport Beach political consultant, Michael R. Williams of Williams & Associates, the former campaign manager for Longshore.

Williams, 42, said he had run a poll “security” effort in Longshore’s race 2 years ago. Then, however, he had asked Republican volunteers to watch the polls.

This year, he said security guards were used because he hadn’t wanted to make volunteers station themselves for 13 hours by the polls. “That was the intent. If the Democrats are going to say racism, it’s not true. I am an extremely nice guy. I’ve worked hard in that district the last 5 years. We were just trying to make sure that everything went smoothly, and there was no intent to intimidate.”

William also charged that on Tuesday he saw several Democratic poll watchers sitting just 25 feet from the polls, which is illegal.

The instruction sheet from Williams & Associates asked guards to introduce themselves to poll workers and to indicate “that they are there to monitor the election proceeding . . . AND, NOT TO HALT VOTING.” It also asked them to write down the license number of a vehicle “if a problem develops” but urged that “no real comments should be made to voters.”

However, Thierbach campaign manager Bob Lavoie said he visited a Santa Ana polling place where a security guard stood to the right of the entrance and “appeared to be taking license plate numbers of people as they pulled in front of the door.”

Lavoie termed the Republican Party’s decision to stand guard over the precincts “Banana Republican mentality. . . . It is a sad commentary when candidates are encouraging people to vote, something is trying to discourage them.”

Extremely Upset

Democratic congressional candidate Jerry Yudelson, who spent much of his 38th District campaign against Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) walking predominantly Latino precincts in Santa Ana and Garden Grove, was extremely upset about the posting of the guards.

“The Republicans have been telling people they wanted Latinos to vote all during this campaign. Now, they pull this,” he said. “It’s outrageous. First of all it’s illegal.”

“And second of all, people don’t show up and vote unless they’re already registered and have signed affidavits,” said Yudelson, adding that he wants Democrats to consider legal action over the matter.

Times Staff Writers David Reyes and Jess Bravin contributed to this article.