[EL] Why the Selfie is a Threat to Democracy”

Tue Aug 18 08:22:48 PDT 2015

I agree with Rick that ballot selfies enable corruption - at least in the areas where vote-buying is common.  Selfies promote the equivalent of a floating ballot scheme, where the buyer’s iPhone replaces than the hard-to-obtain blank ballot.  The court’s decision does not only apply to young people and other frivolous types (among which group I frequently fall), and it may not make much difference in NH.  But other states are quite another matter.  
> On Aug 18, 2015, at 11:09 AM, Steve Klein <stephen.klein.esq at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm concerned with outlawing something that's quite prevalent and, as Dr. McDonald notes, shows little sign of corrupting the process. Quite the contrary, actually. 
> 
> People - particularly young people - post ballot pictures all the time. It's not only an announcement of support for particular candidates, it's an announcement of support for voting in general. Particularly among young people (again), voter turnout is a riddle that political experts have been trying to solve for some time. Making a few examples of ballot selfie violators (who would probably disagree with Rick that "the cost is minimal") does not strike me as the answer to said riddle. 
> 
> In 2012, on social media I asked friends back in Michigan to write in a friend for Michigan State Board of Trustees. This friend was not actually running for the position. Later that day another friend excitedly posted a picture of this written-in portion on the ballot. It was funny, but probably only if you knew everyone in the conversation. Perhaps it was illegal under Michigan law - I didn't look it up then and will not now. 
> 
> On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 10:42 AM, Michael McDonald <dr.michael.p.mcdonald at gmail.com <mailto:dr.michael.p.mcdonald at gmail.com>> wrote:
> We should apply the same standard to voter id laws as to ballot selfies. What evidence can you provide Rick that there has been vote buying enabled by ballot selfies (not with mail ballots, specifically ballot selfies)? Why criminalize a behavior, forcing law enforcement to expend valuable resources to police it, when there are more pressing matters for them to focus on? It strikes me that existing laws regulating vote buying are sufficient. A candidate stupid enough to use ballot selfies as a way to verify votes will likely find people posting their selfies on social media with the caption “I just made $20!”
> 
>  
> 
> ============
> 
> Dr. Michael P. McDonald
> 
> Associate Professor
> 
> University of Florida
> 
> Department of Political Science
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> 223 Anderson Hall
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> P.O. Box 117325
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> Gainesville, FL 32611
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> phone:   352-273-2371 <tel:352-273-2371> (office)
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> e-mail:  dr.michael.p.mcdonald at gmail.com <mailto:dr.michael.p.mcdonald at gmail.com>               
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> web:     www.ElectProject.org <http://www.electproject.org/>
> twitter: @ElectProject
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>  
> 
> From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu <mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu <mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
> Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 10:21 AM
> To: law-election at uci.edu <mailto:law-election at uci.edu>
> Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 8/18/15
> 
>  
> 
> Why the Selfie is a Threat to Democracy” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75414>
> Posted on August 18, 2015 7:20 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=75414> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
> I have written this commentar <http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/08/17/why-the-selfie-is-a-threat-to-democracy/>y for Reuters Opinion.
> What could be more patriotic in our narcissistic social-media age than posting a picture of yourself on Facebook with your marked ballot for president? Show off your support for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) or former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.  Last week, a federal court in New Hampshire struck down <http://www.buzzfeed.com/adolfoflores/new-hampshires-ban-on-ballot-selfies-is-struck-down-as-uncon?bftwnews&utm_term=4ldqpgc#.vsPZMbG18> that state’s ban on ballot selfies as a violation of the First Amendment right of free-speech expression.
> That might seem like a victory for the American Way. But the judge made a huge mistake because without the ballot-selfie ban, we could see the reemergence of the buying and selling of votes — and even potential coercion from employers, union bosses and others.
> 
> The case is more fallout from the Supreme Court’s surprising blockbuster decision <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/us/politics/courts-free-speech-expansion-has-far-reaching-consequences.html?ref=politics> of Reed v. Town of Gilber <http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-502_9olb.pdf>t.  The piece concludes:
> Barbadoro also said the law was not narrowly tailored, given that nothing would stop someone from posting on Facebook, or elsewhere, information about how he or she voted. What this analysis misses is that a picture of a valid voted ballot, unlike a simple expression of how someone voted, is unique in being able to prove how someone voted.
> Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more narrowly tailored law to prevent vote buying. Tell the world you voted for Trump! Use skywriting. Scream it to the heavens. We just won’t give you the tools to sell your vote or get forced to vote one way or another.
> 
> The social-media age gives people plenty of tools for political self-expression. New Hampshire’s law is a modest way to make sure that this patriotic expression does not give anyone the tools to corrupt the voting process. Perhaps the judges of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court will see the error of Barbadoro’s ways.
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> -- 
> Steve Klein
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