Voting Orange County

Orange County voting in Tuesday's primary closely tracked overall state results in the elections for statewide offices and Congress. The only major digression occurred in the U.S. Senate race. Orange County supported Darrell Issa, who received 48% of the Republican vote, while state Treasurer Matt Fong, who won the race, received 38%. Here's how the vote broke among candidates leading the two major parties: GOVERNOR *--* Orange County Statewide Republicans Dan Lungren 95.6% 93.

Orange County voting in Tuesday's primary closely tracked overall state results in the elections for statewide offices and Congress. The only major digression occurred in the U.S. Senate race. Orange County supported Darrell Issa, who received 48% of the Republican vote, while state Treasurer Matt Fong, who won the race, received 38%. Here's how the vote broke among candidates leading the two major parties: GOVERNOR *--* Orange County Statewide Republicans Dan Lungren 95.6% 93.

Noncitizens registered to vote this fall with the aid of a Latino civil rights organization and later cast ballots in a central Orange County district that included the hotly contested Nov. 5 race between U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan and Democrat Loretta Sanchez. Nineteen people interviewed by The Times acknowledged that they voted though they had not completed the naturalization process, which is finalized with an official swearing-in ceremony.

In the heart of Orange County's largest immigrant community, the Latino advocacy group Hermandad Mexicana Nacional has created a potential political powerhouse by helping tens of thousands of new residents become citizens and register to vote as well as offering them food, clothing, jobs and legal advice. The only large-scale organization of its kind in the county, Hermandad has been praised for serving a group of people--mostly poor, Spanish-speaking immigrants--who have nowhere else to go.

Orange County voters will get their say on Measure S, a ballot initiative that would block a proposed commercial airport at El Toro, even though some signatures supporting the measure may have been improperly collected, a judge ruled Friday. Superior Court Judge Francisco F. Firmat acknowledged that some workers who circulated petitions to qualify Measure S for the March 1996 ballot were not registered to vote in Orange County, as required by county election law.

In the heart of Orange County's largest immigrant community, the Latino advocacy group Hermandad Mexicana Nacional has created a potential political powerhouse by helping tens of thousands of new residents become citizens and register to vote as well as offering them food, clothing, jobs and legal advice. The only large-scale organization of its kind in the county, Hermandad has been praised for serving a group of people--mostly poor, Spanish-speaking immigrants--who have nowhere else to go.

Notwithstanding the California Republican party's well-intentioned anointment of Sen. Pete Wilson as its gubernatorial nominee, it is no secret that he continues to have an uncomfortable relationship with the conservative wing that dominates it. As we move closer toward the general election, conservatives across the state, and particularly in vote-rich Orange County, are now asking the question, "What would a Gov. Wilson offer to conservatives?"

Orange County Democratic Party leaders said Saturday that they have formally asked the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor local polls on Election Day, fearing that voter intimidation tactics might be used in heavily Latino precincts in central Orange County.

A measure to outlaw the posting of uniformed guards at polling places cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday when it won approval of the Senate Elections Committee. The bill, by Sen. Milton Marks (D-San Francisco), is the first legislation drafted in reaction to the Republican Party's hiring of 20 private guards to monitor Latino voters as they went to the polls in Santa Ana last Nov. 8.

A Latino rights organization sued Thursday to block the recall election of a Santa Ana school board member, contending that petitions aimed at ousting him for his alleged advocacy of bilingual education were circulated only in English in the heavily Latino city. Attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund allege that the Orange County registrar of voters violated the rights of non-English-speaking residents by approving the petitions in only one language.

Noncitizens registered to vote this fall with the aid of a Latino civil rights organization and later cast ballots in a central Orange County district that included the hotly contested Nov. 5 race between U.S. Rep. Robert K. Dornan and Democrat Loretta Sanchez. Nineteen people interviewed by The Times acknowledged that they voted though they had not completed the naturalization process, which is finalized with an official swearing-in ceremony.

Orange County voters will get their say on Measure S, a ballot initiative that would block a proposed commercial airport at El Toro, even though some signatures supporting the measure may have been improperly collected, a judge ruled Friday. Superior Court Judge Francisco F. Firmat acknowledged that some workers who circulated petitions to qualify Measure S for the March 1996 ballot were not registered to vote in Orange County, as required by county election law.

Notwithstanding the California Republican party's well-intentioned anointment of Sen. Pete Wilson as its gubernatorial nominee, it is no secret that he continues to have an uncomfortable relationship with the conservative wing that dominates it. As we move closer toward the general election, conservatives across the state, and particularly in vote-rich Orange County, are now asking the question, "What would a Gov. Wilson offer to conservatives?"

The "2002 in 2002" conference held this month in Anaheim drew hundreds of Latino high school and college students. The Hispanic 100 in February lured the state's three Republican candidates for governor to an invitation-only luncheon in Orange County. The numbers embedded in the names of the two organizations, and what they say about the political aspirations of the Latino community, should send a powerful message.

Re "High School District Mulls Suing Mexico," May 28: If Anaheim Union High School District trustee Harald Martin is so concerned about the costs of educating students and protecting the taxpayer, why doesn't he start with something within his direct control? That would be streamlining his district's administrative bureaucracy, taking political leadership in fiscal management and seriously questioning the legitimacy of all expenditures. The answer is that effectively changing the educational bureaucracy requires the highest degree of tact, patience, knowledge and sophistication.