The Montgomery County Board of Elections (“the Board”) voted 5-0 to establish a social media policy to assure fair treatment on social media for all candidates for office and all supporters and opponents of ballot questions.
As part of this policy, the Board, which was following more than 2,000 X (formerly Twitter) users, no longer will follow anyone on X or any other social media platform. “As a non-partisan organization, the Board must ensure that all candidates, political parties and
voters are treated fairly and that no candidate or supporter or opponent of a ballot question
receives or is perceived to receive preferential treatment,” said Board President David A.
Naimon. “The mission of the Board is simple – – free, fair, and transparent elections for all candidates and voters.”
Social media plays a critical role in the Board’s communications with Montgomery County
residents about election-related information and in maximizing voter outreach. To that end, the
Board strongly encourages everyone to follow it on various social media platforms, including X.
The Board has been discussing how to continue to use social media as an effective means to communicate with the public while avoiding the perception that the Board is expressing favoritism toward certain individuals by “following” them or “liking” their messages on social media.
To achieve both goals, the Board has implemented the following policy:
(1) The Board encourages the public to follow it on social media. It is the best way to receive accurate and up to date information on our elections;
(2) The Board will not follow anyone on social media. This policy is being implemented to ensure impartiality and instill confidence that the Board is
administering free and fair elections for all individuals who may decide to run for elective office and both sides of any ballot questions.
Courtesy of the Montgomery County Board of Elections