IFRR Election Guidelines - Public
September 26, 2017
It’s important to note that these guidelines describe the position of IFRR as an entity/group, and do not attempt
to place limitations on how individuals may choose to engage in elections, campaign, and candidates on theirown or in connection with other groups.

Overview
This is not a legal document. It is a best effort to establish general guidelines for Indivisible Front
Range Resistance (IFRR) activities to make them compliant with our understanding of the laws,
regulations and rules that govern election related activities in the state of Colorado and under federallaws. These laws are not always clear and well defined. Therefore IFRR has taken a conservative
approach.
Campaign Finance Resources:
Colorado Campaign Finance Manual
Bolder Advocacy - Resources for Election Laws
Ballotpedia - Federal Campaign Finance Laws

Fundraising for Candidates - Basic Guidelines
IFRR’s policy:● IFRR will not contribute to candidates, campaigns, or political parties.
● IFRR will not host, sponsor, publicize, or contribute to political fundraising events.
● Individual members can participate in and host fundraisers but not as official representatives ofIFRR.
● Individual members should contribute directly to the candidate or campaign, and should notcollect funds for the candidate, unless they are doing so as part of the candidate’s campaign
committee and under its direction.
● Individual members must work directly with the campaign and/or candidate and not serve as aliaison between the candidate/campaign and IFRR.
● Individual members may promote a candidate’s public fundraising event in the IFRR Facebookgroup, as long as they clearly indicate that it is not hosted or sponsored by IFRR.
● If individual members decide to form a host committee for a fundraising party, IFRR will not bea sponsor or host.
● Individual members should follow the candidate’s (or candidate committee’s) advice on
contribution limits and in-kind contributions. I.e., the campaigns have the fundraising expertiseand responsibility for following the rules, and will be reporting the contribution.

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Hosting an Event
IFRR’s policy:● IFRR may host candidate events that are educational or issue based.
● IFRR will not host an event which is aimed at supporting or opposing one or more candidates
who are running for office.
● Candidates can attend IFRR events, but events are not to be used as fundraisers.
● Candidates can speak at IFRR events, but IFRR must also invite their opponent(s) and make it
clear to the candidate and attendees that it is not endorsing the candidate.

Working with Candidates and Campaigns
IFRR’s policy:●●●●IFRR will not promote or oppose candidates, campaigns, or political parties.
IFRR will not endorse candidates, campaigns, or political parties.
IFRR encourages individual members to work on election campaigns as they choose.
Individual members should work directly with the candidate’s campaign, and should not claim
to represent IFRR as a group.
● Individual members working with campaigns should take direction from and report to thecampaign directly.
● Individual members can promote public election events in the IFRR Facebook group. They
cannot, however, claim that IFRR is hosting or sponsoring the event.

Candidate Questionnaires and Voter’s Guides
IFRR’s policy:● For candidate questionnaires, IFRR will distribute questions to all candidates for a given office.
● Questions will not be biased or hint at the “correct” answer.
● IFRR will not ask a candidate to pledge their support for or opposition to any issue;questionnaires should have open-ended questions rather than yes/no, support/oppose, ormultiple choice formats.
● Questionnaires should include questions on a broad range of issues.
● IFRR will publish all responses that the candidate provides—without editing/paraphrasing.
● IFRR may impose a reasonable word limit.
● The published results will not compare the candidate responses to IFRR’s views on the issues.
● IFRR will publish all responses in an impartial way.
● IFRR will make the responses generally available to the public.
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● IFRR will not coordinate with a candidate about questionnaire content (for example, IFRR will
not change a question at the request of a candidate).
● IFRR will not consult with the candidate in creating the questionnaire or resulting guide;otherwise it could be considered an in-kind contribution.
● If a candidate does not respond to the questionnaire, IFRR will note that in the voter guide, andattempt to determine the candidate’s position on the issues based on publically available
information; or describe the candidate’s position as “unknown” or “unclear.”● Any voter or election guide published by IFRR will be non-partisan and will not express support
for or opposition to any candidate.

Candidate Forums
IFRR’s policy:● IFRR can host candidate forums.
● IFRR must invite all candidates for a given office, but it’s not necessary for all candidates toattend.
● The forum may be open to the public or limited to members.
● IFRR should avoid any messaging which would indicate support or opposition of anycandidate.

IFRR Facebook and Website Content
The following section covers IFRR’s policy on election-related content in the following media:
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Posts in IFRR secret Facebook group
Posts on IFRR public Facebook page
Content on IFRR public website
Content on IFRR Wiki including Colorado Election Project
Event notices on Facebook, IFRR website, or IFRR communications via ActionNetwork
Content on social media sites including Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Posts by individual members● Individual IFRR members may promote a public candidate’s fundraising event in the IFRR
Facebook group; but they cannot claim that IFRR is hosting or sponsoring the event.
● IFRR members can promote public election events like a phone bank in the IFRR Facebookgroup; but they cannot claim that IFRR is hosting or sponsoring the event.
Posts by IFRR or those using the name IFRR
● IFRR can oppose or support the actions of incumbent politicians in carrying out their official
duties, e.g. IFRR can oppose a vote by a member of congress.
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● IFRR can take sides on issues.
● IFRR can make educational posts.
● IFRR will not endorse, promote or oppose the election activities of candidates, campaigns, orpolitical parties.

Electioneering Communications
IFRR’s policy:● Electioneering communications are communications that unambiguously refer to any candidate
which are broadcast via paid TV or radio, printed in a newspaper or billboard, mailed,delivered, or otherwise distributed within 30 days before a primary election or 60 days before ageneral election.
● IFRR will not post electioneering communications during the above window.
● Individual members may post electioneering communications so long as they do not state or
imply that their post is made on behalf of or sponsored by IFRR.

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