3. Candidate Statements for County, City, School District and Local District Offices
California Elections Code §13307 dictates that candidate statements shall be a brief description of no more than 200 words, shall be printed in type of uniform size and darkness, and with uniform spacing. The Registrar of Voters interprets this to mean that candidate statements shall be typed in upper and lower case letters when appropriate, not all capital letters. Additionally , candidate statements will be left aligned, shall be free from non-standard or atypical spacing and shall not contain any italicized or bolded letters. California Elections Code §13307 dictates that candidate statements shall be a brief description that expresses the candidate ’s education and qualifications, and shall not include party affiliation of the candidate, nor membership or activity in partisan political organizations. Nothing in the candidate’s statement shall be deemed to make any such statement or the authors there of free or exempt from any civil or criminal action or penalty because of any false, slanderous or libelous statements. California Elections Code §13308 requires that statements shall be limited to a recitation of the candidate's own personal background and qualifications. Statements shall not in any way make reference to other candidates for that office or to another candidate's qualifications, character, or activities. The election official shall not cause to be printed or circulated any statement that the election official determines is not so limited, or that includes any reference prohibited by this section. It is the policy of the Registrar of Voters that a candidate’s background may include details regarding the candidate’s platform. A candidate’ s platform describes what they stand for and what they intend to do if they are elected. It is the policy of the Registrar of Voters that if a candidate statement is determined to not be in compliance with the Elections Code, the Registrar of Voters may strike any language not in compliance, may not print or circulate the statement, or may seek a writ of mandate or an injunction, requiring that the candidate statement be amended or deleted. It is the policy of the Registrar of Voters that the candidate be fully responsible for ensuring that all spelling, punctuation, and grammar in a Candidate Statement is correct and free from errors. The Registrar of Voters is not responsible for proofreading for spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. Only a cursory review of the candidate’s statement will be done at the time of filing to ensure that the statement is acceptable. In order to ensure more than one candidate statement will fit on a single page of the County Voter Information Guide , the Registrar of Voters may adjust the size of the text of the statement down to as little as size 8 Arial font. In computing the word count of a candidate statement, it is important for candidates to keep in mind that only the text of the statement is included in the calculation of the word count. The title of the candidate statement, which includes the candidate’s name, age, and occupation, does not affect the word count for a statement. Examples for counting words within a candidate statement are provided:
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