[EL] Verdict on ballot selfies?

[Steve Klein]

I believe California legalized it in 2016, and it went into affect after the general election. 

The newer laws specifically prohibiting posting photos of marked ballots online  (such as the law struck down in New Hampshire) are likely to be struck down if any remain.

As applied challenges to older ballot exposure laws (i.e., that they don’t apply to exposure of a photograph of a marked ballot outside the polling place / buffer zone) have a good chance of success, as seen in my recent settlement in Michigan. 

Content-neutral photography bans in polling places (which effectively ban the practice for in-person voting) are the toughest nut to crack, and such a ban was upheld in New York and not appealed, but we also overcame that in our Michigan settlement. 

Legislatively, many states have or are moving in the direction of accommodating the practice. I regretfully do not know of an accurate, up-to-date database. Notably, the general photography bans are sometimes done not by law or regulation, but by informal rule or county clerks or even polling place by polling place. 

And for those who think this whole thing is silly: I think credit is due to the ACLU, other scrappy free-speech-loving attorneys and myself for fostering a fleeting, yet bright moment of unity between Professor Hasen and Commissioner von Spakovsky against the practice. 

Steve Klein

Sent from my iPhone. Sorry. 

> On Jun 4, 2019, at 9:29 PM, Tom at TomCares.com <Tom at tomcares.com> wrote:
> 
> I’m not bothered that California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara posted a video of himself filling his ballot, or that Senate Candidate Lena Gonzalez publicized it, but I am generally curious if this is legal now (and if it’s been resolved as constitutionally protected speech nationwide, or if there is a guide on where this is legal and where it isn’t).
> 
> Wikipedia says it is unclear whether this is legal in California, but perhaps it is outdated. 
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_selfie#Legality
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/647902984/posts/10157875810702985?s=1310826407&sfns=mo
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/1339090931/posts/10214675067653882?s=1310826407&sfns=mo
> <IMG_5009.jpg>
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20190604/cab16213/attachment.html>