Title 5Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73

§1503 Nonpartisan candidacies permitted

Title 5 › Part PART II— - CIVIL SERVICE FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES › Chapter CHAPTER 15— - POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF CERTAIN STATE AND LOCAL EMPLOYEES › § 1503

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Allows state or local officers or employees to run in an election if no candidate is running as a member of a party that got any votes for Presidential electors in the last election.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §1503

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

section 1502(a)(3) of this title does not prohibit any State or local officer or employee from being a candidate in any election if none of the candidates is to be nominated or elected at such election as representing a party any of whose candidates for Presidential elector received votes in the last preceding election at which Presidential electors were selected.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 118n (as applicable to 5 U.S.C. 118k(a)).
July 19, 1940, ch. 640, § 4 “Sec. 18 (as applicable to § 12 of the Act of Aug. 2, 1939; added
July 19, 1940, ch. 640, § 4, 54 Stat. 767)”, 54 Stat. 772. Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1974—Pub. L. 93–443 substituted “candidacies” for “political activity” in section catchline and provision permitting nonpartisan candidacies for prior provision permitting political activity in connection with (1) an election and the preceding campaign if none of the candidates was to be nominated or elected at that election as representing a party any of whose candidates for presidential elector received votes in the last preceding election at which presidential electors were selected, or (2) a question which was not specifically identified with a National or State political party and deeming questions relating to constitutional

Amendments

, referendums, approval of municipal ordinances, and others of a similar character as not specifically identified with a National or State political party.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1974 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 93–443 effective Jan. 1, 1975, see section 410(a) of Pub. L. 93–443, set out as a note under section 30101 of Title 52, Voting and Elections.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 1503

Title 5Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73