The Hatch Act restricts the political activity of executive branch employees of the federal government, the District of Columbia government and certain state and local agencies.  In 1993, Congress passed legislation that substantially amended the Hatch Act, allowing most federal and D.C. employees to engage in many types of political activity. (These amendments did not change the provisions applying to state and local employees.)

With the 1993 amendments, most federal and D.C. government employees are now permitted to take an active part in political management or in political campaigns. However, some federal agencies and categories of employees continue to be prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity.

OSC has developed a presentation entitled "Political Activity and the Federal Employee" which covers the rules and regulations of the Hatch Act.  This presentation appears in one Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and can be downloaded and reproduced by users. 

Employees of these agencies (or agency components) are subject to the following restrictions:

• May register and vote as they choose
• May assist in voter registration drives
• May express opinions about candidates and issues
• May participate in campaigns where none of the candidates represent a political party
• May contribute money to political organizations or attend political fund raising functions
• May attend political rallies and meetings
• May join political clubs or parties
• May sign nominating petitions
• May campaign for or against referendum questions, constitutional amendments, municipal ordinances
  
  
• May not be candidates for public office in partisan elections
• May not campaign for or against a candidate or slate of candidates in partisan elections
• May not make campaign speeches
• May not collect contributions or sell tickets to political fund raising functions
• May not distribute campaign material in partisan elections
• May not organize or manage political rallies or meetings
• May not hold office in political clubs or parties
• May not circulate nominating petitions
• May not work to register voters for one party only
• May not wear political buttons at work

Ref: 5 U.S.C. chapter 73, subchapter III, as amended; 5 C.F.R. Part 734 ; Pub.L. 103-359, § 501(k) (1994)

Please note that the following documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and can only be viewed and printed using Adobe Acrobat Reader.  Acrobat Reader can be dowloaded free from Adobe.

Do's and Don'ts for Federal Employees Who May Engage in Partisan Political Activity

Federal employees may-

• be candidates for public office in nonpartisan elections register and vote as they choose
• assist in voter registration drives
• express opinions about candidates and issues
• contribute money to political organizations
• attend political fundraising functions
• attend and be active at political rallies and meetings
• join and be an active member of a political party or club
• sign nominating petitions
• campaign for or against referendum questions, constitutional amendments, municipal ordinances
• campaign for or against candidates in partisan elections
• make campaign speeches for candidates in partisan elections
• distribute campaign literature in partisan elections
• hold office in political clubs or parties

Federal employees may not-

• use official authority or influence to interfere with an election
• solicit or discourage political activity of anyone with business before their agency
• solicit or receive political contributions (may be done in certain limited situations by federal labor or other employee organizations)
• be candidates for public office in partisan elections
• engage in political activity while:
        ° on duty
        ° in a government office
        ° wearing an official uniform
        ° using a government vehicle
  
• wear partisan political buttons on duty

Federal employees should also be aware that certain political activities may also be criminal offenses under title 18 of the U.S. Code. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 210, 211, 594, 595, 600, 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, 610.

Please note that all advisories in this section are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and can only be viewed and printed using Adobe Acrobat Reader which can be downloaded free from Adobe.  For visually impaired users Adobe Access can convert PDF documents to simple HTML or ASCII text which can then be read by screen reading programs.