CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SANTA ANA : Poll Guard Lawsuit Revived by Court

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit accusing the California Republican Party of conspiring to intimidate Latino voters by posting uniformed security guards at Santa Ana polling places in 1988. In a unanimous decision, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a trial must be held to determine whether the state GOP conspired with local Republican officials to scare minority voters away from polling places. The ruling revives a feud between local Democrats and Republicans over Republican Curt Pringle’s narrow victory over Democrat Christian (Rick) Thierbach in the 72nd Assembly District. Worried that Democrats might tip the election by busing in illegal voters, the county GOP hired guards to pace outside 20 polling places carrying signs in Spanish and English that read, “Non-citizens can’t vote.” The incident sparked a lawsuit by a group of Latino voters, who contended that Pringle and the Republican Party had conspired to deprive them of their voting rights.