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Actress and future San Francisco first lady Jennifer Siebel has moved a step closer to the altar, having taken up full-time residence in fiance Mayor Gavin Newsom's Russian Hill penthouse, where she is now registered to vote.

It turns out, however, that the onetime Republican registered as a member of the American Independent Party - the anti-immigrant, anti-abortion, anti-NAFTA and anti-tax party.

San Francisco's election rolls show Siebel cast her ballot using the Green Street address both in November, when Newsom was re-elected, and during February's presidential primary. But because she was affiliated with the American Independent Party, she was ineligible to vote for any of the Democratic or Republican presidential contenders, including Newsom's pick, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The mayor's office tells us Siebel is actually an independent voter - "decline to state," in registration lingo - and checked the American Independent box thinking that was what independent voters were supposed to do.

She has since changed her affiliation to "decline to state," mayoral spokesman Nathan Ballard said.

It appears Siebel is far from the only voter to mistake the American Independents for independents.

According to Contra Costa County Registrar Stephen Weir, president of the state association of county election officials, 2 percent of California voters identify themselves as member of the American Independent Party. That's a lot more than other minor parties, including the Greens (0.77 percent); Libertarians (0.5 percent) and Peace and Freedom (0.35 percent.)

Nearly 20 percent of California's voters, in contrast, are registered as decline to state.

Weir says the secretary of state is working on redesigning registration forms to make it clear that the American Independents are an actual party, and not unaligned.

So take heart, Jennifer.