SACRAMENTO, California (Press Release) — The California Legislative Jewish Caucus forcefully pushed back on Tuesday against the decision to allow antisemitic conspiracy theories to be included in the Official Voter Information Guide for the California Primary. The Jewish Caucus has been in contact with Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office and is working on next steps – including legislation – to address this issue.
Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D – Santa Cruz), Chair of the Assembly Elections Committee, former Santa Cruz County Clerk, and a member of the Jewish Caucus, issued the following statement:
“During my 27 years as a county elections official, I rejected numerous candidate statements that failed to comply with the Elections Code’s requirement that they be limited to a recitation of a candidate’s background and qualifications. The antisemitic statement included in the state voter information guide is reprehensible. It does not reflect California’s values and has no place in voter resources produced and distributed by the state. I will work with my colleagues to advance legislation that ensures that this kind of content never appears in official election materials again.”
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D – Encino), Jewish Caucus Chair, released the following statement on behalf of the Caucus: “We were outraged to learn that the Official Voter Information Guide for the California Primary — prepared by the Secretary of State and mailed to more than 23 million California voters — includes antisemitic conspiracy theories and links to websites with horrific racism, homophobia, and misogyny. This is dangerous, deeply offensive, and antithetical to California’s proud tradition of standing up to hate. We profoundly disagree with the decision to include this hate speech in the Voter Guide and are already working on legislation to address this issue. We have been in contact with the Governor’s Office and we will continue to work with our colleagues to ensure that Californians of all faiths and backgrounds are not subject to hate and bigotry, particularly in official state publications.”
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Preceding provided by the California Legislative Jewish Caucus