VOTER SUPPRESSION IN THE O.C.

ASSOCIATED PRESS: SANTA ANA, October 21, 2006 - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says a campaign mailing apparently aimed at discouraging Hispanic voters was "a hate crime" and if a congressional candidate knew about it, he should resign.

The letter, written in Spanish, went out to thousands of voters. It falsely warned that immigrants who vote next month could face deportation or jail.

The letter has sparked a furor in the county and a Voting Rights probe.

Schwarzenegger said if candidate Tan Nguyen knew about the letter, he should resign.

Nguyen, an immigrant himself, arrived in America aged 8, the child of Vietnamese boat people who fled the Communist takeover.

Nguyen has said a staffer sent out the mailing without his knowledge and was fired. He's refused calls from his party to bow out of the race.

Jose Solorio, a Democratic City Council member, outside Tan Nguyen's office in California with a poster that he says he found in a park. It says: 'If you vote, you’ll get booted out' (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

"You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or if you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time," the letter said. It also cautioned that the Government had a computer system capable of tracking voter names — and that anti-immigrant groups across the country had access to the names.

The letter, sent to 14,000 Latino registered voters across Orange County. Of course, legal immigrants are allowed to vote, and no such computer system existed.

During the 1988 race, the local Republican Party was forced to settle a lawsuit after hiring uniformed guards to stand in Latino neighbourhoods with signs reading: "Non-Citizens Can’t Vote."

Even after the payout, however, leaders still refused to admit wrongdoing. The county is home to several right-wing anti-immigration groups and also the founder of the Minutemen, a vigilante group that sends armed volunteers to patrol the Mexican border.

Loretta Sanchez, the Democratic incumbent, who was born in California to Mexican immigrants, said: "These communities have spent years trying to get naturalised immigrants to vote."

Republicans are not happy with Nguyen, who could ruin their party's reputation in an area where a third of voters are Latinos.