November 5, 2024, General Election, Campaign Guide: Submitting Candidate Statements

Introduction

All candidates have the option of submitting a statement about their background, education, and qualifications for publication by either the Secretary of State or the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters. This statement is formally called a Statement of Qualifications. The rules and procedures for such a statement vary by office (see table below). Note that this Guide only covers statements that appear in the County Voter Information Guide.

Preparing the Statement

Content

• Statements shall be limited to a recitation of the candidate's personal background and qualifications and shall not in any way reference other candidates for that office or to another candidate's qualifications, character, or activities.
• Statements shall be accompanied by a declaration executed under penalty of perjury, declaring that the information contained therein is true and correct.

Formatting Rules

• Warning 1: Please proofread your statement! The Registrar of Voters will not correct any misspellings or errors in grammar or punctuation.
• Warning 2: The Registrar of Voters will not be responsible for the accurate typesetting and/or printing of any statement that must be reconfigured or reformatted to comply with the below guidelines.
• Statements must be submitted on the appropriate form provided by the elections official of the candidate’s resident county. There are two forms depending on the office you are running for: one for U.S. Representative in Congress, State Senator, and Member of the State Assembly; the other for Superior Court Judge and County Supervisor. The forms look very similar so make sure you have the correct one. The forms are posted below in the "Candidate Statements Now Accepted Electronically" box at the beginning of the Filing the Statement section.
• Hard copies of the statements may be prepared on a word processor and attached to the paper form, provided no pertinent information is covered by the attachment. Statements submitted electronically must be sent by email to rov-candidate@sonoma-county.org.
• If age and/or occupation (for Superior Court Judge and County Supervisor) are left blank, none will be printed. Occupation is not restricted by ballot designation limitations; however, occupations exceeding one line will be shortened.
• Statements shall be written in the first person (e.g., "I am running..." not "She is running..." or "Jane Doe is running...").
• The body of the statement (not including name, age, and occupation) shall not exceed 250 words (for U.S. Representative in Congress, State Senator, and Member of the State Assembly) or 200 words (for Superior Court Judge, County Supervisor).
• Statements must be typewritten in upper and lowercase letters and single-spaced in block paragraph style (spacing between paragraphs but no indentations). Statements not in this format will be reformatted.
• Words in ALL CAPITALS, indentions, italics, underlines, boldface type, **stars**, exclamations!!!, dots…, etc., are prohibited.
• Lists and enumerations will be wrapped as a single paragraph. Multiple single sentence paragraphs that do not fit in the space will be wrapped.
• Indented text, if submitted, will be run together as a sentence.
• Statements will be printed in random alphabet order unless repositioned due to space considerations. Statements do not rotate.

Word Counting Rules

Words shall be counted pursuant to California Elections Code § 9. Some basic word counting rules are as follows:

• Punctuation is not counted.
• Each word shall be counted as one word except as specified.
• All proper nouns, including geographical names shall be counted as one word (e.g., "City and County of San Francisco" or "Rincon Valley Union School District" shall be counted as one word).
• Each abbreviation for a word, phrase, or expression shall be counted as one word (e.g., S.R.J.C.).
• Hyphenated words that appear in any generally available standard reference dictionary published in the United States shall be counted as one word. Each part of all other hyphenated words shall be counted as a separate word.
• Dates shall be counted as one word.
• Digital numbers shall be counted as one word (e.g., 100). Numbers which are written out are counted as one word each (e.g., "one" shall be counted as one word and "one hundred" shall be counted as two words).
• Telephone numbers shall be counted as one word.
• Internet website addresses shall be counted as one word.

Payment

With the exception of a limited number of school districts and special districts that agree to cover the cost of printing candidate statements (see the following section of this Guide, List of Candidate Statement Costs for these exceptions), paying for a statement is the exclusive responsibility of the candidate. Payment is typically made in the form of a check in the amount “not to exceed” the highest estimated cost for that office. These checks will be held until after the final deadline to withdraw a candidate statement. If the actual cost of printing the statement exceeds the deposited amount, the candidate will be invoiced for the remainder of the cost. If the actual cost of printing the statement is less than the deposited amount, the candidate will receive a refund for the overpayment. See the following section of this Guide, List of Candidate Statement Costs, for the estimated costs by office.

Procedures for paying for a candidate statement vary based on office/district:

• For federal (U.S. Representative) and state (State Senator, Member of the State Assembly) offices, payment shall be submitted at the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Office at the same time that nomination papers are returned for filing (or along with the hard copy of the statement being sent by overnight mail within 72 hours of filing).
• For municipal offices, payment shall be submitted to the city/town clerk at the same time nomination papers are returned for filing (or along with the hard copy of the statement being sent by overnight mail within 72 hours of filing).
• For school districts and special districts, payment (if requried) shall be submitted to (and a receipt obtained from) the school district or special district BEFORE the candidate returns nomination papers (or along with the hard copy of the statement being sent by overnight mail within 72 hours of filing).

Estimated costs for printing statements are based on the printer's price list, set-up fees, the number of registered voters within the jurisdiction, and other factors. The high end of the range is more representative of when only one candidate files a statement; the lower end of the range is more representative of when two or more if two candidates file statements because some costs are shared.

Filing the Statement

Candidates’ statements shall be submitted either physically or by email at the same time as nomination papers are returned for filing. If submitted electronically, candidates shall transmit a hard copy of the statement by overnight mail within 72 hours. Statements must be submitted on the official form provided by the elections official of the candidate’s county of residence. However, in multicounty districts, the elections official of each county shall accept the electronic submission of the form from the candidate’s home county (again, as long as a hard copy of the statement are sent by overnight mail within 72 hours).

Candidates’ statements may be withdrawn, but shall not be changed (except as specifically required by the elections official), until 5 p.m. of the next regular business day following the close of nominations for such office.

After Filing the Statement

Statements shall remain confidential until the expiration of the filing deadline for nomination papers for the office. At that point statements become available for public examination in the county elections official’s office for 10 calendar days following the close of filing. During this period any voter of the jurisdiction in which the election is to be held, or the county elections official, may seek a writ of mandate or an injunction requiring any or all of the material in the statement to be amended or deleted. Venue for such a proceeding shall be the county in which the statement is filed. If the statement is filed in more than one county, the writ or injunction must be sought in each county in which amendments or deletions to the statement become subject to examination and challenge.

Sample Statement #1 (State Assembly)

▶ As Submitted

▶ As Typeset and Printed

Sample Statement #2 (School District Governing Board)

▶ As Submitted

▶ As Typeset and Printed