nonpartisan

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (May 2012)

In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation. The Merrian-Webster dictionary's definition of "nonpartisan" is:

"Not partisan; free from party affiliation, bias, or designation."^[1]

Some nonpartisan organizations are truly such; others are nominally nonpartisan but in fact are generally identifiable with a political party.

United States of America

Today, nonpartisan elections are generally held for municipal and county offices, especially school board, and are also common in the election of judges. The unicameral Nebraska State Legislature is the only state legislature that is entirely officially nonpartisan.

Although elections may be officially nonpartisan, in some elections (usually involving larger cities or counties, as well as the Nebraska Unicameral) the party affiliations of candidates are generally known, most commonly by the groups endorsing a particular candidate (e.g., a candidate endorsed by a labor union would be generally affiliated with the Democratic Party, while a candidate endorsed by a business coalition would be generally affiliated with the Republican Party).

Churches and other 501(c)(3) organizations

Churches and charities in the United States were mainly formed under US Internal Revenue Service tax code 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. To maintain that tax-exempt status, and the ability for donors to take a tax deduction, they were required to remain nonpartisan.^[2]

This has caused some to question the ability of organizations that have the appearance of partisanship. Some predominantly African-American churches were seen as promoting Democratic candidates. Some predominantly white Evangelical churches were seen as promoting Republican candidates. Most churches regardless of color were seen to promote ballot measures that defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.

The Brookings Institution is a Washington, D.C. think tank and 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Since its founding in 1916, it has had both identifiable Republicans and Democrats among its leadership. Owing to leadership changes such as this, some argue that it is a good example of a nonpartisan organization. However, others disagree; The New York Times has at times listed the organization as being liberal, liberal-centrist, centrist, and conservative.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} In 2008, The New York Times published an article where it referred to the "conservative Brookings Institution".^[10]

Therefore, in regards to organizations in the United States, it seems the only way a group can escape the label of being partisan, is to have no involvement with politics at all. There are many Churches and 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that indeed seemingly are completely nonpartisan. However, owing to the ever changing political leanings of their members, it seems there will be always be someone that loudly proclaim a group as being partisan.

Nonpartisan League

In U.S. history, the Nonpartisan League was an influential socialist political movement, especially in the Upper Midwest, particularly during the 1910s and 1920s. It also contributed much to the ideology of the former Progressive Party of Canada. It went into decline and merged with the Democratic Party of North Dakota to form the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party in 1956.

Milwaukee

In the history of Milwaukee, the "Nonpartisans" were an unofficial but widely recognized coalition of Republicans and Democrats who cooperated in an effort to keep Milwaukee's Sewer Socialists out of as many offices as possible, including in elections which were officially non-partisan, but in which Socialists and "Nonpartisans" were clearly identified in the press.^[11] (Such candidates were sometimes called "fusion" candidates.^[12]) This lasted from the 1910s^[13] well into the 1940s. (The similar effort in 1888 to prevent Herman Kroeger's election as a Union Labor candidate had been conducted under the banner of a temporary "Citizen's Party" label.^[14]) During the period of Socialist-Progressive cooperation (1935-1941), the two sides were called "Progressives" and "Nonpartisans".^[15]

Republic of India

In the Republic of India, the Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign is a non-partisan campaign initiated by Tata Tea, and Janaagraha to encourage citizens to vote in the Indian general election, 2009.^{[citation needed]}

See also

	Politics portal
	Political science portal

• Apolitical
• Decline To State
• Non-partisan democracy

Notes

References

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2009)

• William Safire (2008-03-31). "Safire's political dictionary". Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=jK-0NPoMiYoC&pg=PA476&dq=Nonpartisan&lr=lang_en&as_brr=3&ei=BR3lSM7ME4GmMrGO6BM&sig=ACfU3U2QN4BCbhNoVwHNGAlIsKjh0EU9dg. Retrieved 2012-01-25. 
• Charles Edward Russell. "The story of the Nonpartisan League: a chapter in American evolution". Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=-0gQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Nonpartisan&lr=lang_en&as_brr=3&ei=thnlSKvzIoneNtqR3A8. Retrieved 2012-01-25. 
• Albert Breton (1998-09-28). "Competitive Governments: An Economic Theory of Politics and Public Finance". Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=o0XNlQCub1cC&pg=PA110&dq=Nonpartisan&lr=lang_en&as_brr=3&ei=YRrlSK-iLpSWMr7wjQw&sig=ACfU3U2Lzrl2wUcZxNtbKJORgQ8bLxB3Vw. Retrieved 2012-01-25. 
• Joan Campbell (1944-06-03). "European labor unions". Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=23dUzlVxphMC&pg=PA167&dq=Nonpartisan&lr=lang_en&as_brr=3&ei=9RnlSJHZG4mUMuSv8BE&sig=ACfU3U2l6_3PSuck7Vr0UPhPd2qVWnqRig. Retrieved 2012-01-25. 
• Leon D. Epstein. "Political parties in Western democracies". Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=iIolxT5S3SMC&pg=PA95&dq=Nonpartisan&lr=lang_en&as_brr=3&ei=thnlSKvzIoneNtqR3A8&sig=ACfU3U3PjpluOebEL9H9ffhDGP1FTME5QA. Retrieved 2012-01-25.