46th Congressional District

The federal government is considering sending poll observers to a hotly contested central Orange County congressional district to oversee voting Nov. 3. A U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman said officials may monitor election day activities in the 46th Congressional District, where Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) and Republican challenger Robert K. Dornan face each other on the ballot.

The Orange County district attorney and the California secretary of state are investigating possible electoral fraud in last November's 46th Congressional District race. Last Friday, Secretary of State Bill Jones announced that of 1,160 people registered to vote on cards checked out of the registrar of voters' office by Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, 721 apparently had not completed the process of becoming American citizens. Of the 721, Jones said, investigators believed 442 voted.

A Latino civil rights group charged Thursday that large numbers of voters, including many new citizens, were intimidated or turned away from the polls on election day. Vera Marquez, state president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said her office received dozens of calls from people who said they had registered to vote but were turned away at the polls because their names didn't appear on the list of registered voters. "They were scared.

House Oversight Committee staff members will be in Orange County today to begin copying records at the Orange County registrar's office as part of the panel's investigation into the contested 46th Congressional District election, officials said. Originally scheduled to arrive Wednesday, two staffers were delayed a day in arriving from Washington, a panel spokesman said.

It is increasingly unlikely that a special election could take place before late May for the congressional seat held by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, even if the House of Representatives finds sufficient voter fraud to vacate last year's election. That would place the special election just ahead of the June 2 primary for the seat Sanchez won from former Congressman Robert K. Dornan.

Was there massive voter fraud in the 46th Congressional District? That's the question California Secretary of State Bill Jones (Orange County Voices, Nov. 16) says he has been asked since Bob Dornan lost his congressional seat to Loretta Sanchez and cried fraud. After a year of investigation, the only thing Jones has proved is that although some 300 people registered to vote before they were actually sworn in as citizens, the numbers were not sufficient to change the election results.

The district attorney's office has upgraded to investigation status its inquiry into allegations of voter fraud and voting irregularities in the 46th Congressional District race. Assistant Dist. Atty. Wally Wade said Monday that the investigation will attempt to determine "if there was or wasn't [a crime committed] and who perpetrated it" in the election that saw Democrat Loretta Sanchez beat Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) by 984 votes.

[Former Rep.] Bob Dornan has again made Orange County proud by his antics and his bombastic actions on the House of Representatives floor. His determination to overturn his loss to that upstart, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), finally has backfired on him. Name-calling and downright harassment of other representatives may have cost him his wish of throwing out his loss to Sanchez. His pursuit has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars and lots of notoriety for Sanchez. That a way, Bob!

Here are some key questions surrounding the probe by the House Oversight Committee: Q. What is the panel investigating? A. Former Republican Rep. Robert K. Dornan contends he lost the 46th Congressional District to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) because of voting by noncitizens and other election irregularities. He asked the House to order a new election and a three-member House Contested Elections Task Force was appointed to investigate Dornan's allegations. * Q.

Msgr. Jaime Soto criticizes Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) for voting against the ban on partial-birth abortions (Letters, Nov. 17). He seems to forget that abortion rights forces don't consider her a reliable ally. Her faith is Catholic, and the citizens who elected her to Congress are generally pro-life. She supports a medical exception to protect the life of the mother. This can hardly be called voting with her party rather than representing her district on this fundamental issue of life.