No more friends, no more followers.
The five-member Montgomery County Board of Elections has voted unanimously to stop following others on its social media accounts Facebook and X.
In a statement released Monday after its meeting, Board of Elections President David Naimon said, “As a non-partisan organization, the Board must ensure that all candidates, political parties and voters are treated fairly and that no candidate or supporter or opponent of a ballot question receives or is perceived to receive preferential treatment.”
Gilberto Zelaya, community engagement and public relations officer for the board, added, “We want to make sure that we don’t amplify static,” but he said that doesn’t mean they don’t want you to engage with their social media accounts.
As of Monday night, the Board of Elections’ X account was following 2,125 accounts. On Facebook, the board was following 506 accounts.
“During the election season, we do a lot of behind-the-scenes explanation of how the process occurs,” Zelaya said on the board’s social media activity. Some of its posts include details on mail-in ballots to the location of early voting centers.
Board members worried about the perception that a like or a follow could be seen as favoring one candidate, cause or group over another, especially looking down the road.
The decision is just another example, according to Zelaya, of how the board works to provide information and provide, “transparency, transparency, transparency.”
You can still find information from the board on their X account and on their Facebook page.
