International Foundation for Electoral Systems Resistance Movement (NRM) received a great deal more paid advertising than all other candidates – much of it paid for by ministries and government agencies – in both television and print media during the 2016 elections.122 During the 2015 elections in Sri Lanka, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) reported that government institutions published advertisements in widely-distributed newspapers supporting the incumbent presidential candidate.123 There are various ways the legal and regulatory framework can prevent this potential abuse. Legal provisions may restrict the advertising the activities of state agencies during the campaign period. Countries may also include provisions in the legal framework placing restrictions on the use of government funds to print or distribute communication during the electoral campaign period; for example, prohibiting mass mailings paid with official government funds or official publications that “prominently feature” a public official from being sent during the 30 days before an election. Additionally, legal provisions may include content restrictions (such as on the use of official symbols or other government insignia in election-related communication). In the U.S., several tools regulate government communications. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a department of the Executive Office of the President, has issued several general policy documents that govern the dissemination of information by federal agencies.124 Federal agencies, in implementing their own information policies pursuant to OMB guidelines, have interpreted this general guidance as preventing the direct dissemination of partisan election information.125 These policy documents – coupled with the Hatch Act, which inherently restricts political communication by limiting any executive branch employee political activity while on the job126 – effectively govern communications relating to the election process within the executive branch. Excerpts from U.S. state law: Kentucky (6) Use his official legislative stationery, or a facsimile thereof, to solicit a vote or a contribution for his or another person’s campaign for election or reelection to public office, or use the great seal of the Commonwealth on his campaign stationery or campaign literature. For purposes of this subsection, “official legislative stationery” means the stationery used by a legislator on a day-to-day basis for correspondence related to his duties as a member of the General Assembly. Violation of this subsection is ethical misconduct. KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 6.731 General standards of conduct; penalties The federal government and state governments impose certain timing restrictions on their legislative branch communications to the public to prevent them from being used to influence elections or from being perceived by the public as serving that purpose. See EU EOM Uganda Final Report, supra note 111, at 19. See Transparency Int’l, Sri Lanka Electoral Integrity Report, supra note 48, at 29. 124 See, e.g., Off. of Mgmt. and Budget, Circular No A-130 Revised (2000), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/ omb/circulars_a130_a130trans4/. 125 See U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Policy on the Approval and Use of Social Media and Web 2.0 (2010), available at http://ocio.os.doc.gov/ITPolicyandPrograms/Policy___Standards/PROD01_009476; see also U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Social Media Policy (2015), available at https://www.doi.gov/notices/social-media-policy; Dept. of Def., Use of Government Resources at 7 (2013), available at http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/resource_library/ deskbook/government_resources.pdf; Dept. of Def., Ethics Counselor’s Deskbook, Use of Government Resources at 8 (2013), http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/resource_library/deskbook/government_resources.pdf; U.S. Dept. of Labor, External Linking Policy, 7(d) (2015), available at http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/external-policies. htm. 122 123 126 16 5 U.S.C.A. § 7324.