Registrar Details Irregularities

Responding to complaints by former U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan, the registrar of voters has found a few voting irregularities from the Nov. 5 election in the 46th District but none that would have reversed the veteran congressman’s loss to Democrat Loretta Sanchez.

Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever’s Jan. 17 analysis, made public Tuesday, addresses a variety of issues raised by Dornan in a letter a month ago.

The concerns included the possibility that 150 people registered and voted illegally from business addresses; up to 100 voters cast two ballots; and that there was a widespread discrepancy between the printed statement of election results and computer tapes that indicate whether individual voters cast ballots.

Lever’s office concluded that 11 people may have voted twice and four improperly listed business addresses as their residences. She has asked the district attorney’s office to review those cases.

But Lever also said that contrary to the Garden Grove Republican’s assertion of a 2,000-ballot discrepancy between computer tapes of the balloting and the election record, the margin was actually 460, which the registrar attributed to data entry errors by her office.

Lever said the error does not change the actual vote count.

Dornan, a nine-term congressman known for his fiery advocacy of conservative causes, lost by 984 votes. Political neophyte Sanchez, also of Garden Grove, took office Jan. 7, representing the central Orange County district.

The registrar’s analysis did not involve Dornan’s assertion that noncitizens voted in the election, a claim made after the congressman’s Dec. 17 letter that prompted Lever’s report. That allegation, which a Dornan lawyer said Tuesday was not included in the letter for lack of evidence, is under review by the secretary of state and the Orange County district attorney’s office.

A House of Representatives committee is also considering Dornan’s request that the election be nullified.

William R. Hart, an attorney for Dornan, said Tuesday that Lever’s analysis addresses only “the tip of the iceberg,” with the possibility of noncitizens voting a more serious concern.

He said that although the irregularities Lever uncovered might not have swayed the election, Dornan believes there may be enough noncitizen ballots to change the outcome.

“We are gratified that the registrar has taken the time to attempt to respond to some of the issues we raised,” Hart said. “We are glad they are turning over the irregularities to the proper authorities.

“Bear in mind, the [analysis] is a response to a letter we provided to them more than six weeks ago and predates much of the information that has appeared in the national media and much of the information the secretary of state and district attorney has.”

Still, Lever’s response satisfied the Sanchez camp, which has denied any role in voting irregularities.

“This report proves exactly what we have been contending all along: There is utterly no evidence of voter fraud,” said Sanchez lawyer Fred Woocher. “There is nothing but a handful of isolated irregularities that are typical of any election.”

Dornan first raised the issue of voting improprieties based on anecdotal evidence that suggested the absentee ballot process had been abused and that there was widespread voting irregularities in the district.

But Lever said there was little evidence backing those claims.

In the instances in which he alleged double voting and people listing business addresses as their residence, Lever’s office rechecked the ballots against official records and did not find widespread abuse or discrepancies.

Lever further said that the difference between the number of ballots counted on the printed statement of election votes and voter tapes was 460, not 1,985 as Dornan asserted.

Lever said Dornan had compared only the number of votes logged on the tape versus the official statement. But the registrar also counts provisional and other type of ballots that do not appear on the tape.

Contributing to this report was Times staff writer Peter M. Warren.