Earlier this month, an estimated 14,000 Orange County residents got a Spanish-language letter threatening immigrants with jail time if they voted Nov. 7. Today, the ACLU of Southern California asked Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and Orange County Registrar Neal Kelley to immediately correct the damaging letter.

ACLU/SC Orange County director Hector Villagra urged that a corrected letter be sent immediately to affected residents before the Nov. 7 election.

'The potential damage misinformation like this can cause is incalculable,' Villagra said. 'For all citizens, voting is a cornerstone of the American experience. When you tell immigrants who have become citizens they can go to jail for voting, you are spreading lies, not liberty.'

Garden Grove Buddhists who were shut out of their new building will be able to worship there, a federal judge ruled today.

'This is a huge relief for the temple and its congregants,' said Hector Villagra, director of the ACLU/SC Orange County office. 'Everyone is very pleased they will be able to use the building they purchased to celebrate their religion together again.'

Garden Grove officials at first advised temple leaders they would OK a zoning change to allow the temple to expand, but denied the request in February. City Council members voiced concern that rezoning the former medical building to allow the temple to practice its faith would cut tax revenues, and one member suggested there were too many religious buildings in the city.

ORANGE, Calif. - The ACLU of Southern California asked Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and Orange County Registrar Neal Kelley to immediately correct the damaging letter sent to thousands of registered voters in Orange County earlier this month.

In a letter to election officials, ACLU/SC Orange County director Hector Villagra urged that a corrected letter be sent immediately to affected residents before the Nov. 7 election.

'The potential damage misinformation like this can cause is incalculable,' Villagra said. 'For all citizens, voting is a cornerstone of the American experience. When you tell immigrants who have become citizens they can go to jail for voting, you are spreading lies, not liberty.'

The letter states: 'The ACLU/SC is pleased that a thorough investigation has been ordered and that those involved will be held accountable.' It goes on to say that such an investigation 'does not address the harm the letter has already done by misinforming thousands of naturalized citizens that they will be jailed and deported for exercising their fundamental right to vote,' Villagra wrote to election officials.

Click here to read the letter to election officials (pdf)