Police Sunday were investigating stickers promoting a group that supports white nationalism posted at the Democratic Party’s offices in Orange .
The stickers were reported about 4 p.m. Saturday in the 1900 block of West Chapman Avenue.
The Orange Police Department was contacted but did not immediately respond. A police sergeant told the Orange County Register that the vandalism was not being investigated as a hate crime, but that officers were still working to determine the identity and motives of the person responsible.
Democratic officials said in a news release that they were filing a hate crime report with the Orange County Human Relations Commission.
“It’s clear that this vandalism is intended to intimidate and suppress voters,” said chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Orange County, Ada Briceño. “It will not work. We stand united in the strongest possible condemnation of hate. We want to assure voters that intimidation is not tolerated.”
About a dozen stickers were found displaying slogans such as “we claim america,” “for the nation against the state,” “2 parties one tyranny” and “America is not for sale” three days before voters cast their ballots on Super Tuesday.
The vandalism was also condemned by the Democrats for Israel Clubs.
“After a string of victories in 2018 against the Republicans that ran Orange County for decades, we have shown that we will not bow or break in the face of extremist threats,” the group’s president, Andrew Lachman, said.
Democratic officials declined to name the group referenced in the stickers but said it was recognized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and is linked to James Fields Jr., who drove a car into a crowd of people at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing Heather Heyer in August 2017.