California Voter Suppression and Election Fraud Watch 2006

[EFerrari]

I'm going to post relevant incidents to this thread and invite anyone who would like to contribute to please do so.





Link to earlier CA thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=452932

[EFerrari]

1. CA 47: Santa Ana. 76:% Hispanic. Hispanics get letter

claiming that citizens who are immigrants are forbidden to vote:

"The state attorney general's office is investigating a letter received by some Southern California Hispanics that says it is a crime for immigrants to vote and tells them they could be jailed or deported if they go to the polls next month.<...>

The letter, written in Spanish, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/10/post_1681.html#014006

Thanks to BurtWorm for finding this one.

[cui bono]

2. I just heard that on the radio and was reading the LAT article...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scare17oct17,1,2985877.story?coll=la-headlines-california

One person who received the letter is the wife of a Garden Grove City Council candidate. She said her husband, Benny Diaz, called friends after the letter arrived and found five others with Latino surnames who had received the note.

"It's a very malicious and degrading letter. It's to pull Latinos down and make them afraid," said Diaz, who is president of the Garden Grove chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

<snip>

John Trasviña, interim president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the letter.

Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who called on California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer to investigate, believes the letter is an effort to scare Latinos from voting in Orange County.

<snip>

He (Trasviña) said he was aware of six people who received the letter, all of whom "appear to be naturalized citizen voters from Latin American countries." Voters' birthplaces are available from voter registration records.

<snip>

The letter's assertion that immigrants can't vote is untrue, because immigrants who become naturalized citizens can register to vote. Trasviña said that an undocumented immigrant who voted could be subject to deportation and jail.