Bill Would Make Hiring of Guards for Polls a Felony

Hiring uniformed guards for polling places would be a felony under a bill introduced by a Northern California legislator in response to the furor over the Orange County Republican Party’s use of private guards on Election Day.

The bill introduced Monday by state Sen. Milton Marks (D-San Francisco) would also make it a felony for an armed or uniformed person to loiter at a polling place. Law enforcement officers on official business or voters in the process of casting a ballot would be exempt.

Under current law, a political party may dispatch poll watchers to polling places to ensure the integrity of the voting process. Uniforms or arms are not specifically prohibited. No electioneering, including signs, may take place within 100 feet of the polls.

“What we’re saying is, there is nothing wrong with poll watching,” said Tim Hodson, consultant to the Senate Elections Committee, of which Marks is chairman. “But there is something very, very wrong with having your poll watchers act or dress in a manner which is clearly intimidating.”

Uniformed guards, paid for by the county GOP, appeared at 20 predominantly Latino precincts in Santa Ana on Nov. 8. All the precincts were within the 72nd Assembly District, where Republican Curt Pringle of Garden Grove topped Democratic candidate Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach of Anaheim by just 867 votes. The two men were pitted in a bitterly fought, $2.1-million battle to succeed Richard E. Longshore (R-Santa Ana), who died June 8.

County Republican Party Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes said he authorized payment of about $4,000 for the guards at the request of Pringle’s political consultant, Carlos Rodriguez.

Fuentes said the party had heard rumors that busloads of illegal voters would try to cast ballots in the district.

The guards, who were bearing signs in Spanish and English warning non-citizens not to vote, reportedly asked some voters for identification and handled at least one ballot. Within hours of their arrival at the polls, the guards were ordered off the polling premises by the county registrar of voters, Donald F. Tanney.

Democratic leaders and Latino groups have filed suit over the incident, asking that the election results be overturned. The county Republican Party, Fuentes, Rodriguez and others are named in the lawsuit.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), who helped Thierbach run his campaign, said he expects to become a co-author of the Marks bill.