Voter-Fraud Probe Cut Back In California

California’s election chief has agreed to scale back a proposed investigation into the citizenship of all 1.3 million voters in Orange County after civil rights groups complained it would be an invasion of privacy.

The probe stems from allegations by former Rep. Robert K. Dornan that voter fraud caused his November loss to Loretta Sanchez. The nine-term conservative Republican is challenging his 984-vote loss in the House, contending that noncitizens illegally voted for the Democrat.

An investigation determined that some voters had been illegally registered, and Secretary of State Bill Jones then asked the Immigration and Naturalization Service to check the background of every registered voter in the county.

But the INS agreed with activists who argued that it would invade voters’ privacy.

Under a compromise, Jones now will receive information on 456 registered voters who declined to serve on juries on grounds that they weren’t U.S. citizens.