Do’s and Don’ts in an Election Year for Churches
Dr. Peter Bakken, WCC’s Coordinator for Justice & Witness joined Rev. Breanna Illéné, WCC’s Content Curation and Ecumenical Innovation Coordinator to talk about what churches can and cannot do during elections.
There are upcoming elections on April 5th which are nonpartisan elections, focused on more local offices (county supervisors, mayors, school boards, court of appeals, circuit court judges) with two more elections in the fall (August 9 – fall partisan primary, statewide offices and November 8th – general election).
Churches are 501c3 organizations, nonprofit charitable organizations, and are tax exempt and so there are various things they are not allowed to do because it will jeopardize their non profit status. But there are ways that churches can support the democratic process of voting. Read below for a list of “Do’s and Don’ts” and watch the video for more details.
Do’s
Lobby on specific legislation – Churches can promote specific bills that have been or could be introduced in the legislature
Educate
How to Vote, how to find info on registering to vote, where the polling place is, what will be on the ballot, Voter ID requirement
Host a candidate forum – as long as all candidates are invited on an equal basis
Share questionnaires – all candidates must be asked equally
Share nonpartisan voting guides to what is on the ballot
If your congregation has been advocating on an issue or bill before the election, you can continue to do so – but don’t bring up an entirely new issue.
Encourage
Remind people to vote
Participate in nonpartisan Get Out The Vote activities
Allow candidates to use your space but you must charge same rates that you charge other community organizations and it must also be open to other candidates to rent space if they want to
Don’t
Intervene in campaigns for public office
Endorse explicitly or implicitly
Clergy/leaders – you can endorse as a private individual but not as a representative of your congregation
Donate money or in kind products
Rank candidates on issues or say “they agree/disagree with us” on issues you care about
Have congregants running for office announce their candidacy for office or speak about their campaign in worship
To learn more, check out the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Campaign or visit our Election resources page.
