Let the Fight Be at the Polls

An Orange County grand jury investigating allegations of fraud in the election last year that ousted Robert K. Dornan from his congressional seat reportedly has concluded that whatever invalid votes were cast were the result of confusion and carelessness, not conspiracy. A decision in this investigation is important because in a democracy citizens need to see elections as free, fair and untainted by fraud.

In the matter of the 1996 race in the 46th Congressional District, no solid evidence of deliberate tampering has ever been made public. The grand jury’s conclusion should be heeded in Washington, where a House committee has dragged out its own inquiry into the election far too long. Next year’s election season is nearly upon us; let the parties fight their battles at the ballot box.

The Orange County district attorney’s office opened its investigation into the election a year ago. It presented its findings to the county grand jury, which reportedly has declined to indict anyone, including officials and employees of a key target of the probe, the Latino rights organization Hermandad Mexicana Nacional.

That group’s executive director, Nativo Lopez, has acknowledged that some people, contrary to the law, registered to vote before becoming citizens. But he blamed the lapses on confusion or overzealousness by staff workers and volunteers. The grand jury’s apparent agreement suggests that there has been far more smoke than fire in Dornan’s relentless campaign to overturn the results of the election. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) upset the veteran House member, winning by 984 votes.

Hermandad’s contentions that government officials failed to clearly state election law to people in the process of becoming citizens spurred the Immigration and Naturalization Service to reword its advisories. Now it should be clearer that immigrants cannot register, much less vote, until they have become citizens.

California Secretary of State Bill Jones, the official in charge of certifying balloting in the state, has found in his own inquiry that perhaps 3,000 people in Orange County who voted were ineligible. But neither Jones nor the county investigators have determined how many of those voters lived in Sanchez’s district and of those how many voted for her rather than Dornan.

What is needed now is an official statement from the district attorney confirming reports that the local investigation is over. Also helpful would be as full an explanation as the law allows of just what evidence investigators found. The House Oversight Committee also should chime in, officially announcing that Sanchez beat Dornan and deserves the seat she has held in Congress since January.