Interest Advocacy
Interest advocacy is act of making generalized communication regarding a public issue or problem without advocating voters to take a specific action at the election booth.
Identification of a pure "issue only ads" made by interest advocacy groups is difficult. Groups that sponsored messages needed to make it clear to a voter with reasonable intelligence, that the voter should cast their ballot in a manner the group wanted.
Keeping an advertisement issue only was important to groups like 501(c)(3) non-profits. Groups like this were subject to limits, or absolute prohibitions, on engaging in political activities. In 2006, the US Internal Revenue Service issued a fact sheet that stated groups could not endorse, make public statements for, contribute to, or distribute statements prepared by others, since it would be "political intervention". However, at the same time, organizations still could participate in non-partisan voter education efforts, including registration and get-out-the-vote drives and issue advocacy.
Read more about this topic: Issue Advocacy Ads
Famous quotes containing the word interest:
“Social Security is a government program with a constituency made up of the old, the near old and those who hope or fear to grow old. After 215 years of trying, we have finally discovered a special interest that includes 100 percent of the population. Now we can vote ourselves rich.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)