BALLOT SELFIES: SHOULD THE BAN BE LIFTED?

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By Miriam Raftery

January 12, 2016 (Sacramento) – If you take a selfie in the ballot box in California, you’ve broken the law. That hasn’t stopped celebrities and ordinary voters from posting ballot selfies on social media. In fact, nobody’s ever been arrested in our state for posting their ballot or a photo of themselves casting a vote, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Now Assemblyman Mark Levine has introduced a bill to legalize ballot selfies—which he says could make voting “cool” and encourage more people to vote.    

There’s another reason to ditch the ban on ballot selfies.  Federal judges have struck down similar laws in Indian and New Hampshire, finding that they violated the 1st Amendment.  The ACLU sued to get the laws thrown out, arguing that sharing ballot photos is a form of protected political speech.

The ban was put in place to begin with to prevent voters from selling their votes, since a photo could provide proof of how a ballot was cast.  Jessica Levison, president of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission and a law professor at Loyola Law School, has said changing the law could make it easier for organizations or even employers to pressure voters.

The ban on ballot photos is meant to prevent vote-buying and voter coercion, where a photo might serve as proof of how they voted. Jessica Levinson, president of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission and a clinical law professor at Loyola Law School, says while she agrees the law is problematic in the digital age, changing it might have the unintended consequence of making it easier for organizations or employers to pressure voters.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla issued a statement that sums up the issue this way:

 “’Ballot selfies’ posted through social media have become a form of political expression used by many citizens to show their pride for civic participation.We should not discourage citizens from engaging in political speech, but at the same time, we must protect the integrity of our elections and a voter’s right to privacy.”

 


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