You vote where you live, right? Well, maybe not -- if you work for the city of Miami.

A Herald comparison of city personnel files and voter registration records found 14 city employees who commute to work -- and also commute to the polls.

They live in places including West Dade, Opa-locka, Carol City, even Broward County. All cast ballots in city of Miami precincts anyway on Nov. 4.

The Herald also turned up eight other employees who live in Miami but voted in commission districts where they do not live.

State law is plain: Voters must vote from their legal residence. It's a crime -- a third-degree felony -- for any "ineligible" voter to "willfully" cast a ballot.

But it's a tough law to enforce.

"The way the law is written right now, we rely on the individual's honesty for . . . legal residency, " said Gisela Salas, the county's assistant elections supervisor. "No provision in the law gives us the authority to go beyond what they're telling us."

EXPLANATIONS VARY

Asked for explanations for the aberrations, city-employee voters came up with everything from silence and ignorance to the bizarre.

* Juan Pascual, promoted since the election to run the General Services Administration, said he was living at his in-laws' Miami home Nov. 4, and not in the Westchester home where he claims a homestead exemption.

"I live on the beach, I live at my in-laws' house and I live here , " said Pascual, reached at the Westchester home. He said he voted for ex-Miami Mayor Joe Carollo and for District 1 Commissioner Willy Gort. "At the time of the election, I lived in my in-laws' house."

The in-laws say otherwise. Pascual's mother-in-law, Noreida Polo, told a reporter that Pascual and her daughter "used to live here when they were first married, but haven't for a long time."

* Alicia U. Perez, an account clerk in the police department, claims a homestead exemption on a home west of Sweetwater. But she voted from her in-laws' home in Little Havana.

"I work in the city and I live there on weekdays, " Perez said when reached on a weekday night at home west of Florida's Turnpike. "I have two houses."

Besides claiming a homestead exemption at her West Dade home, Perez registered her car there. And she listed the same address as her home in city personnel records.

SIMILAR SCENARIOS

Such was the case with other city employees:

* Rene Alfonso, an engineer in the Information Technology Department and a campaign volunteer for Commissioner Humberto Hernandez, claims a homestead exemption in far West Dade. He lists the same home address in city personnel files. Yet he voted from a home in Hernandez's district, where the residents have never heard of him. Alfonso did not respond to requests for an interview.

* Kha D. White, an administrative assistant in the police department, voted at a Liberty City precinct in Commission District 5, even though she claims a homestead exemption in Opa-locka. The residents at White's voter-registration address said she used to live across the street, but moved away years ago. White did not respond to requests for an interview.

* Luis Casanueva, a mechanic with the fire department, claims a homestead exemption in Commission District 1. He cast a ballot at an old address in District 3.

"I moved here two years ago, " a sheepish Casanueva said at his home in Allapattah, miles from the Little Havana address where he used to live with his wife's aunt and uncle. "I have three kids, I'm working on the house, I take classes at Miami-Dade at night. I didn't have time to change my registration, but I will. It was for negligence, not for any other reason. I'm not into politics."