Voting Stories Raise Concern

* Voter registration and voter turmoil are always at the top of the list for the League of Women Voters, but we hardly expected them to become headline news as they have in the past few weeks.

The district attorney’s investigation into alleged violations of registration and voting laws has itself brought charges of bigotry and intimidation.

The fairness of press coverage has been called into question. All Orange County members of Congress have asked the House Oversight Committee to convene in Orange County to investigate charges of election fraud made by the loser in the narrowly decided November contest for the 46th Congressional District.

The careful, objective investigation of responsible charges of election irregularities is absolutely essential. Maintaining the integrity of our elections and the public perception of that integrity is the highest priority in our form of government. Objectivity, responsibility and a willingness to let due process do its work evidence a genuine concern for the integrity of our system; political posturing and demagoguery harm the system they ostensibly seek to defend.

In our contacts with Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever, her deputy, Don Taylor, and her staff, we have found them to hold the legal requirements of their task paramount, with efficiency and convenience as important but secondary considerations. Our government agencies seem to be working hard to keep elections fair, free, open and honest.

Ways to correct mistakes and to prevent their recurrence may be needed. If willful violations have occurred, they must bring about the necessary consequences. But the process should reflect our basic tenet that one is innocent until proven guilty, and should not pit one ethnic group against others. To do so is to lose some of the very values we all claim to believe in.

MARGE ENGLAND

President

Central Orange County

League of Women Voters

* Former Rep. Robert K. Dornan apparently assumes he would grab his district in a landslide if a reelection were held. Granted, his witch hunt has turned up some irregularities and it will probably have benefit in the future.

Perhaps it has not occurred to Dornan that the electorate just may be fed up with his offensive remarks to or about those who do not agree with his tunnel vision or his lack of concern for his constituency.

There are those of us who do not view him as totally pure. I recall his excuse for writing rubber checks in the House banking scandal. I didn’t buy building a statue of the Virgin Mary in his backyard as acceptable, but then I don’t believe in the tooth fairy or Santa either.

It’s time he quit wasting taxpayer money in pursuit of a career in Congress and brushed up his resume. There must be some organization or business longing to hire a bigot with a big mouth.

KATHRYN G. WEINMANN

Mission Viejo

* Your editorial bias is again showing on your front page.

The March 7 headline, “Many Dornan ‘Suspects’ Prove Legitimate Voters,” seems to be a reflection of your support to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

Have you tried to identify the illegal voters? Are you as outraged as many of your readers that illegal votes were counted? Do you support illegal voters as long as they vote for the candidates that you support or do you want the election process to be as honest and fair as possible?

Headlines such as the one mentioned imply that you do not care about honest elections. The Dornan list gives “suspects” because identifying fraudulent voters takes time and funding. Without the current investigations by Dornan, the state would not have taken any action to identify people that were not qualified to vote.

Isn’t Dornan doing a public service with private funding by showing how bad our registration system has become? How would you go about identifying possible illegal voters? How about some investigative reporting about voter fraud and how citizens can try to keep the election process honest?

GEORGE A. KUCK

Westminster

* Your March 7 article on Dornan’s “suspect list” is a political dichotomy at its best.

It’s scary to think that someone elected to represent Orange County obviously has no clue that many of the constituents he was elected to serve live as extended families.

If not aware of such a simple reality, could it be safe to jump to the conclusion that he was even more clueless about more complex realities of families in Orange County?

Maybe he needs to venture out of his neighborhood and “meet the people” before his next campaign.

JUAN DE JESUS

Costa Mesa