{"id":38238,"date":"2020-11-05T20:31:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T20:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/11\/05\/how-the-hatch-act-changes-after-election-day\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:58:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:58:58","slug":"how-the-hatch-act-changes-after-election-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/11\/05\/how-the-hatch-act-changes-after-election-day\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Hatch Act changes after Election Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Hatch Act continues to restrict federal employee political behavior no matter the time of year, but what constitutes a Hatch Act violation for most employees changes after Election Day, according to an advisory issued Nov. 4 by the Office of Special Counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally, federal employees are prohibited from wearing or displaying campaign items while in the federal workplace, as these constitute engaging in political activity on behalf of a particular candidate, which the law prohibits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But according to the OSC, those \u201ccandidates\u201d effectively cease to exist after the election, for the purposes of enforcing the Hatch Act. Instead, one person is the victor of the race and the remainder is the losing party, even if vote tabulation has yet to determine which is which.<\/p>\n\n\n\t