Prohibited Political Activities

The Ethics Act provides, in detail, political activities that are prohibited. The basic definition of prohibited political activity includes activities that are in support of or in connection with any campaign for elective office or any political organization, or those activities that are either in support of or in opposition to a referendum question.

Consistent with the Act, University employees shall not intentionally perform any prohibited political activities during any University compensated time, other than vacation, personal, or compensatory time off. Further, University employees may not intentionally misappropriate any State property or resources by engaging in any prohibited political activity for the benefit of any campaign for elective office or any political organization.

Prohibited political activities are defined to include planning or holding a political meeting, rally, etc.; distributing campaign literature; soliciting or making campaign contributions; managing or working on a campaign; campaigning itself; conducting political polls or surveys for a specific campaign or political organization; and soliciting vote on behalf of a candidate, political organization, or referendum question.

See the Illinois Office of the Governor Guide to State Employee Political Activity for more information.