Endorsement Guidelines and Process

(adopted July 9, 2026)

Mission

Indivisible Lincoln Square (ILS) seeks to create a more just society. We are a volunteer group on the north side of Chicago. We:

●     Educate ourselves and our neighbors about current political issues

●     Organize grass roots activities aligned with our progressive values

●     Engage with our elected public officials

 

Objectives of our endorsement guidelines

ILS endorses candidates for public office when we believe the candidates will help to create a more just society. The guidelines for how we determine which candidates to endorse were created in order to foster the following values:

●     Transparency - creating a well-defined, documented process and sharing the results of that process along the way helps ILS members and other members of our Chicago community to understand our values and lends credibility to any endorsements we decide to make

●     Fairness - establishing clear, consistent criteria for evaluating candidates helps insulate our process from influence driven by money, power and self-dealing

●     Education - building a body of knowledge about the key issues in each race and the positions and track records of the candidates for office helps to educate ourselves and our neighbors, as well as creating opportunities for our members to engage with ILS and build community with potential partners

●     Accountability - forming a basis for ILS to hold electeds accountable

 

Endorsement process

The work described below is to be completed by temporary working groups formed for the express purpose of supporting the endorsement process

  1. Election calendar - The Elections Committee creates and maintains a calendar of city, state and national elections.
  2. Kickoff of endorsement process - No later than January and July of each year, and at any other time as may be warranted to support our progressive values during elections, the convener of ILS asks for volunteers from the Steering Committee to co-lead the endorsement working group.
  3. Candidate questionnaire - The working group leads develop a list of the major relevant issues to be included in the candidate questionnaire. There should be no more than six (6) issues on the questionnaire.
  4. Working group members - The working group solicits participation from other ILS members via various means (e.g. email to membership, discussion at meet & greets or other events, individual outreach). Care should be taken to ensure that there is input from someone with particular expertise on each of the issues on the questionnaire. Where no such expertise is available, working group members should identify members of the broader community to help provide insights and suggestions.
  5. ILS endorsement calendar - The working group develops a timeline for the process, starting with the creation of a preliminary list of issues and ending with the meeting(s) to vote on whether to endorse any candidates.
  6. Additional research - In addition to soliciting input from candidates, the working group conducts research on the following questions:
    1. What did the candidate say about the issue prior to this election cycle?
    2. What has the candidate done about the issue? Is it consistent with their stated position? Are there notable actions that the candidate did not disclose in the questionnaire?
    3. Who else has endorsed or otherwise supports the candidate?
    4. Where is the candidate s fundraising coming from?
  7. Scoring rubric - The working group creates and maintains a scoring rubric used to provide a grade summarizing their evaluation of each candidate.
  8. Other considerations - The working group conducts research on two additional questions:
    1. Does the candidate have potential conflict of interests with the responsibilities of the office they are running for?
    2. Can the candidate win?
    3. Is the candidate charismatic enough to gain support?

The effort level of this work should correspond to the candidate s grade . High grade means the working group should put a high level of effort into uncovering potential drawbacks. If the candidate has already received a low grade, efforts may best be spent elsewhere.

  1. Endorsement meeting - The working group works with the convener and the communications committee to ensure that the meetings to vote on endorsements are effectively communicated to ILS members. Working group leads should start each meeting with a review of the ILS Endorsement Policy and an overview of the endorsement process. In addition to the results of the research conducted by the working group, participants should consider additional questions:
    1. Do we know the candidate?
    2. Has the candidate worked with us in the past?
    3. What makes us believe we trust the candidate to follow through/fight for an important issue?
  2. Multiple endorsements - The Steering Committee may endorse multiple candidates when warranted. In general elections, it is generally preferable to give significant weight to each candidate s ability to win and to govern effectively if they win.