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Ballot Selfie Bans Coming Before Federal Courts

posted by takyon on Monday August 24 2015, @11:15PM   
from the ballot-selfie-stick-ban dept.

Thexalon writes:

A federal judge recently ruled that banning photos of ballots was unconstitutional:

The ruling clears the way for New Hampshire voters to post their ballot selfies during the first-in-the-nation presidential primaries early next year.

New Hampshire's ban went into effect September 2014 and made it illegal for anyone to post a photo of a marked ballot and share it on social media. The violation was punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.

[...] Mashable's Juana Summers adds that the judge found "there was no evidence that vote-buying or voter coercion were current problems in New Hampshire."

This seems like an interesting legal question, with good arguments on both sides:
- For the ban: If a photograph of a marked ballot is taken from the voting booth, then the voter can verify their vote with an interested third party, including those that would seek to purchase or coerce their vote.
- Against the ban: Such a photograph is protected free speech, and thus cannot be legally banned.

What do Soylentils think about this?

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Original Submission

• Does the vote actually matter, anyway? Does the vote actually matter, anyway? (Score: 4, Interesting) by bob_super on Monday August 24 2015, @11:24PM

  by bob_super (1357) on Monday August 24 2015, @11:24PM (#227284)

  Since the people who are going to buy or coerce the vote can easily make the person take a pic without posting it online, it's a bit moot.

  If you want to deploy TSA scanners in front of the voting booth to ensure that people do not take videos of their vote, then you will actually address the potential problem. Rulings and laws won't.
  Remind me why we don't travel and vote naked, again?

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• Re:Does the vote actually matter, anyway? (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday August 24 2015, @11:59PM

  by frojack (1554) on Monday August 24 2015, @11:59PM (#227295) Journal

  On the other hand, there are a lot of things you are not allowed to take pictures of.
  And these seem to pass constitutional muster.

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  No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.

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• Re:Does the vote actually matter, anyway? (Score: 3, Insightful) by TheRaven on Tuesday August 25 2015, @08:35AM

  by TheRaven (270) on Tuesday August 25 2015, @08:35AM (#227480) Journal

  If someone is going to coerce your vote, then a ban makes it easy to say 'I'm not allowed to take a camera into the booth, you'll have to trust me' and then vote for whoever you wanted. Even if the law is a bit lax in implementation, it still helps act as a shield.

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