One problem with electronic forms is it very difficult to deal with situations where you don’t neatly fit in the form.
Was your order obtained based on rehabilitation or innocence? What state is it from? While I know that you don’t particularly want the scrutiny that my response will give you, I would request an advance determination whether you can answer “no.” The law on executive pardons is an absolute nightmare. (Note: I know you said a judicial pardon, but most pardons are executive in nature).
Many states say that a pardon foregives, but it doesn’t forget. A sizeable minority say exactly the opposite and says that it obliterates all traces of the conviction. Further complicating the problem is that the language in many of the good states is contained in decisions which are fifty years old and there is no telling whether the Court in that state would still adhere to that.
Assume Homeland Security will be able to see your conviction regardless. Just because members of the public can’t see it, doesn’t mean anything. There are a number of convictions (or “adjudications”) which are not part of the public system. Additionally, if the print out shows an arrest segment, a charge segment, and a blank for the judicial segment, it won't take a genius to figure out what is going on.
If you are going to answer “no,” I would get an opinion from an attorney that you can answer the question “no.” If the statute is specific intent (e.g. requires a criminal intent), an opinion of counsel might save you. The person considered THE national authority on the pardon power is a woman named Margaret Colgate Love in Washington, DC (
www.pardonlaw.com). She is President Clinton’s former pardon attorney, author of a dozen law reviews of the effect of pardons, a speaker for CNN, etc.