In a clip where people shareeverythingon social media , it ’s not at all surprising that many take photos of themselves voting . week in advance of election day , picture of ballots and people participating in early voting were already littering social medium . But it ’s not actually legal to do this everywhere in the United States .
Whether it ’s legal in your precinct is complicated , as Torah alter across the commonwealth . Laws that prohibit so - call ballot selfies are often the solvent of older laws targeted at stopping vote buying . " There were old rules , and sensitive ones , that make it illegal to purchase votes , " Dave Heller , deputy director of the Media Law Resource Center , tell Thrillist . " One of the ways one could perhaps document is to take a photo of how you voted to show to someone that you play along their instructions and invite money for it . "
In many place , these law exist in an effort to stop suffrage purchasing . However , in some places , laws like these are being repealed , though vote buying is still illegal . That ’s the case with a Septemberfederal appealscourt rulingin New Hampshire that ’s been hailed as a major win for first amendment right wing .
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" What the motor hotel said is it ’s plainly overbroad and unnecessary to have a blanket ban on taking ballot selfies , " Heller enounce . " In fact , they very colorfully used an erstwhile expression . They said , that ’s like burn down the house to poke fun the slovenly person .
" The court also comment that it ’s 2016 and social media has been around for a duet of election cycles . There have n’t been any incidents that the motor lodge could find where vote selfies were being used somehow in vote buying or intimidation scheme . "
While clarity is coming to some states like New Hampshire , that ’s far from being the case in all states .
Justin Timberlake highlight these complicatedness whenhe occupy a vote selfie(since removed ) while vote early in Memphis . In this case , it ’s not even an old law that make what he did illegal . Tennessee passeda lawthis yearforbidding the use of " a mobile electronic or communication equipment " for " telephone conversation , transcription , or take photographs or videos while inside the polling property . " Though , the law permits the use of earpiece for " informational purposes to attend to the elector in making election decisions . "
While that law is newfangled , many were n’t written with the digital age in judgment and there ’s sometimes a lack of clarity regarding ballot selfies . NBC reportsthat Iowa , Montana , Michigan , New York , Nevada , Pennsylvania , South Dakota , Texas , Wisconsin , and 17 other states do n’t currently allow ballot selfies . A similar mapping put together by theAssociated Press and USA Todaysays many of those same State Department , including Montana and Michigan , doallow selfies .
Meanwhile , things are fluid . The New Hampshire ruling total through in September and on Oct. 24 a Colorado state senatorfiled a federal lawsuitagainst the state of Colorado for blackball ballot selfies . In New York , where voting selfies remain illegal , the natural law was challenged recently and carry on . The justice write , in a 16 - page conclusion , that changes this close to the election would be " a recipe for delays and a disorderly election "
The penalty where ballot selfies are illegal stove from a felony ( Illinois ) to a misdemeanor ( Tennessee ) , so it ’s worth digging up the laws in your State Department and precinct . However , it ’s important to note that a vote selfie , even if illegal , does notinvalidate your right to vote . But if you ’re not sure and want to wreak it safe , it ’s not illegal to post a selfie outside a polling place sport an " I voted " thorn . Plus , the fluorescent lighting in polling station does n’t capture your " I just voted " glow the same mode the sun will .
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