DEMO CANDIDATE NOT AMUSED BY 'REPUBLICAN' TYPO

Don't call Joanne Sanders a Republican.

The Sonoma city councilwoman, who quit the Republican Party in January 2008 and registered as a Democrat, threatened to sue the Napa County elections office after it incorrectly identified her as a Republican on one page of a ballot pamphlet sent to voters.

To fix the mistake, Napa County sent postcards to 69,000 voters last week noting that Sanders is, indeed, a Democrat.

The error was made by the vendor who printed the ballot pamphlets, said John Tuteur, Napa County's registrar of voters. The vendor will pay for the cost of preparing and mailing the postcards, he said.

Sanders is running for the state Senate in the 2nd District, which stretches over six counties from Vallejo to nearly the Oregon border. Three other Democrats are also seeking the seat held by retiring Sen. Pat Wiggins. They are Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, Sonoma County planning commissioner Tom Lynch and Roseland school board member David Rosas.

"The last thing I want is to be misrepresented to the voters," Sanders said.

The error occurred on a "filler page" in voter information pamphlets sent by the county. It listed the names and party affiliations of five state Senate and Assembly candidates who had opted to publish personal statements inside the pamphlet. Sanders was incorrectly identified as a Republican on that page.

Other references to Sanders in the pamphlet described her as a Democrat -- including the sample ballot and her candidate statement.

Initially, Tuteur refused to correct the misprint. County lawyers determined that the mistake was "not a material error" and did not warrant a correction, the Napa Valley Register reported.

But Sanders threatened to file a lawsuit against the county unless Tuteur agreed to send corrected information to every voter in Napa County.

Small stickers with the word "Democratic" are being placed over the word "Republican" on remaining copies of the pamphlets handed out to voters who visit the county elections office.

Also last week, Sanders issued a statement more fully describing the reasons why she decided to switch parties. She denied she left the Republican Party to further her political career.

"I finally realized the Republican Party no longer represented me," Sanders said. "I didn't leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me.

"As a pro-choice, pro-gay-rights woman, it was time to change, so I enthusiastically reregistered as a Democrat and was warmly welcomed to the party," she said. Sanders said she supports a system of open primaries, where voters could cross party lines to vote for candidates regardless of their affiliation.

-- Ted Appel

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