WISCONSIN — If you`ve scrolled through Twitter or Instagram recently, chances are your news feeds are flooded with smiling faces showing an “I voted” sticker or even someone literally bringing their absentee ballot to the post office. Do you want to join us? Before taking this selfie, you should check your local laws to avoid a fine or even jail time. Court rulings on election selfies have been mixed across the country after several cases emerged from the 2016 presidential election. Courts in New Hampshire and Indiana have ruled that laws in those states banning voting selfies are unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the New Hampshire case after the state`s law was ruled unconstitutional. Sure, we`ve all heard that we shouldn`t take so-called “election selfies,” but isn`t a crime a little too much? Not so long ago, of course, the idea of photographing yourself and/or your completed ballot for the whole world was absurd. Everyone accepted the fact that the ballots were secret. But over the past two decades, the proliferation of smartphones with digital cameras has created a world where people share everything on social media and voting selfies have gained traction.
Other states saw conflicting court rulings after the 2016 election, including New Hampshire, where a federal judge ruled that a law banning a person`s right to publish their ballot violated the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal against the decision. Voters have several options for receiving support in their electoral process. All Wisconsin voters have the right to request a mail-in ballot for any reason. Voters can also declare unlimited status based on age, illness, infirmity or disability and receive ballots for each election until they do not return a ballot or indicate a change in status. Electors who receive assistance during mail-in voting must have the envelope of the mail-in ballot signed by the escort. All electors must also receive a witness for their election process who signs the envelope of the absentee ballot and provides their address. The assistant can also act as a witness. Wisconsin law states that sharing a marked ballot with someone is against the law. Badger state candidates reportedly posted photos of ballots filled out over the years without consequence, but Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol decided to indict Buzzell anyway. Gerol says he views the charges against Buzzell as a “test case” that could lead to an appeal decision that will determine whether state law banning voting selfies violates the First Amendment.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 15. While Wisconsin bans voting selfies, many other states allow them — though restrictions may apply. Proponents of the practice say it is good for democracy because it is freedom of speech and encourages voter turnout. Opponents could lead to the buying and selling of votes. For example, a person who is paid to vote in a certain way could prove the act with a ballot selfie. Wisconsin voters could legally take selfies with their ballots marked under a bill approved by the state Senate on Tuesday. Ballot selfies are photos of completed ballots shared on social media, which can be the ballot alone or in the company of the voter`s (usually smiling) face. According to the complaint, on April 2, the Saturday before the spring election, an individual alerted the Mequon Police Department to Buzzell`s March 27 social media post about his ballot and provided screenshots to officers. Later that day, another sticker presented itself with the same complaint to the police department. More importantly, New Hampshire passed a law in 2014 specifically banning voting selfies.
Like many states, New Hampshire has already banned voters from revealing their tagged ballot. The 2014 legislation (HB 366) went further by explicitly prohibiting voters from taking a digital photo of a tagged ballot and distributing or sharing it on social media. Over the past 10 years, the advent of social media and camera-equipped mobile phones has proven to be a challenge to state laws limiting photography at the polling place, largely because photos can lead to disclosure of how a voter voted. And this raises the question of coercion and corruption. The explosion of social media and “selfie” culture has also challenged traditional thinking that voters should not disclose how they voted.