BY LOU GINSBERG
SANTA ANA, California - Upwards of 2,500 mostly Latino marchers, many of them immigrant workers, overwhelmed 125 ultrarightist counter-demonstrators as a congressional committee convened hearings on allegations of voter fraud in the 1996 election of Democrat Loretta Sanchez over Republican incumbent representative Robert Dornan. The "March to Support Voting Rights," sponsored by several Latino civil rights groups, the Chicano student group MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán), and the Orange County Central Labor Council, took place here April 19.

The rightist, anti-immigrant Voices of Citizens Together called the counter-demonstration. They were joined by the John Birch Society, and a dozen students and youth from Young Americans for Freedom.

Last November Sanchez defeated Dornan, the long-time congressman from Orange County, by 984 votes out of 106,455 cast. Upon losing his congressional post to Sanchez, Dornan charged his downfall was due to the massive influx of "illegal aliens" on voter lists, many of them registered by Hermandad Mexicana Naciónal (Mexican National Brotherhood), a local immigrant rights and lobbying organization.

Both Dornan and Sanchez testified before the committee in Santa Ana on April 19. Dornan is attempting to win approval to impose a "citizenship test" on the more than 100,000 who voted in the fall election.

There were some heated exchanges between the voting rights supporters and right-wingers. "Why do you always speak Spanish?" one rightist angrily demanded of a group of young Latinos, "this is America."

"We speak Spanish," one youth retorted, in English, "because this is Santa Ana. Get used to it."

Among those marching were hundreds of workers in contingents of drywallers, asbestos workers, hotel employees, and other unions. Later, an array of Democratic party politicians addressed the crowd.  
 
 
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