Nonpartisanship on Social Media

Nonpartisanship is a core principle of the League of Women Voters. As such, it is very important for League leaders to exemplify this value in the public arena, including on their personal social media accounts. Leagues can use this guidance to help leaders know how best to behave as representatives of the League online. All of this information is mostly geared toward personal accounts rather than organizational League accounts, but many of the suggestions apply to both.​
 

1. Visibility on Social Media

First, some basics about how visibility works on social media. ​

It's important to understand that, on almost all platforms, not only is what you post visible, but what you like is visible to your followers as well. This means that you should treat posts that you like as if they are things you yourself are posting, in terms of how people might interpret them.​

Even if your post is set to only share with close friends or your account is privatized, never assume your post can't be seen. Someone who does have access to see those posts could screenshot them and make them visible publicly.​

Finally, don't feed the trolls. Social media is not the place to prove your point in an argument. Doing so only elevates the claims of the person you're arguing with and weakens your message.​ Algorithms that decide what people see on social media will make their arguments more visible if you engage, so it's best not to engage.
 

2. Recommendations for Personal Accounts

If you are a spokesperson for your League, like a president, board member, or you speak on behalf of the League publicly in any way, we recommend that you treat your social media account as a professional one and that you act as a representative of your League on that account. We recommend including your League title and preferred pronouns in your bio, and that you be mindful of your username and avatar picture if they display something that wouldn't be appropriate for a professional account.

If you feel it is important to maintain a nonprofessional personal social media account to make non-League statements, we recommend that you privatize your account and add a disclaimer message in your bio similar to this: "Views represented on this account do not reflect those of the League of Women Voters." But be aware that your posts still may be found and used against your League even if you do this.​
 

3. Being Political but Not Partisan on Social Media

So let's go through some dos and don'ts for political, yet nonpartisan, action on social media.​ However, recommendations differ during election season, so refer to point four for those.

It's ok to:

• Retweet politicians when their tweets align with our advocacy​

  • When politicians say or tweet something that aligns with our advocacy, we are still practicing nonpartisanship when we retweet or quote them.​

• Have your own political opinions, but be careful if they differ from LWV's positions​

  • For your individual account, it's ok to have your own political opinions, but be careful if they differ from those of the organization. Remember, you are a representative of the League.​

• Tag and call on politicians to take action that aligns with our advocacy

  • It's also acceptable to tag and call on politicians to take action that aligns with our advocacy or to fill out our voter guides!

It's NOT ok to:

• Respond to politicians directly​

  • It is too partisan to respond to politicians directly on Twitter or on their Facebook page. That's not productive and can turn into a troll fight really quickly.​

• Call out a party as being good or bad​

  • We don't want to be calling out a party as doing something good or bad, even if as a party they are supporting or opposing something we're advocating for.​

• Advocate for how people should vote on candidates​

  • We do not want to post anything that indicates how we think people should vote on candidates. Even when we really want a certain candidate to be elected because of their voting rights stance, we must refrain from saying so.​

• Retweet or share a political party's post

  • These days, many political parties have organizational social media accounts, not just nationally but statewide and locally as well. We don't want to retweet, share, comment on, or interact with these posts in any way. It's fine to follow these accounts, but make sure you're following ALL of them and not just one party.
     

4. Election Season on Social Media

Now, things can get a little stickier during election season, because many of the politicians we refer to in point three become candidates during this season. That's why we recommend that you refrain from retweeting or sharing any candidate posts once someone has declared their candidacy for an office.​

The driving principle here is that we cannot provide an uneven platform for candidates running for office.​

During a debate, it's okay to live tweet and tag candidates, but you must make sure you are giving equal weight to each candidate when you do this. It's also still okay to tag candidates in your social media posts to pressure them to fill out your voter guide.​
 

Nonpartisanship on Social Media Examples:

When you're unsure, act as if your account is the League of Women Voters. How would you want the League to be seen? Don't post or like anything that you wouldn't want the public to know that the League supports.