No person designated by the committee as a professional employe, including the executive director, shall be a member of or delegate or alternate to any political convention, nor shall he participate at any such convention, except in the performance of his official duty or as a visitor, nor shall he serve as a member of any committee of any political party, or take an active part in political management or in political campaigns, or use his office or position to influence political movements or to influence the political action of any officer or employe in the classified service, nor shall he circulate or seek signatures to any nominations or other petition required by any primary or election law, nor shall he seek or accept election, nomination or appointment as an officer of a political club or organization, or serve as a member of a committee of any such club or organization, nor shall he in any manner participate in or interfere with the conduct of any election or the preparation therefor at the polling place or with the election officers while counting the votes or returning the election material to the place provided by law for that purpose, save only for the purpose of making and depositing his own ballot as speedily as it reasonably can be done, nor shall he be within the polling place or within fifty feet thereof, except for the purpose of carrying out official duties and of ordinary travel or residence during the period of time beginning with one hour preceding the opening of the polls for holding such election and ending with the time when the election officers shall have finished counting the votes and have left the polling place for the purpose of depositing the election material in the place provided by law for that purpose: Provided, however, That the rights of any individual as a citizen are not impaired hereby, and the prerogative to attend meetings, to hear or see any candidate or nominee, or to express one's individual opinion, shall remain inviolate.