A federal district judge dealt a blow to New Hampshire’s ballot selfie law on the grounds that it restricted political speech. The judge dismissed the state’s claims that the law was needed to fight vote buying and voter coercion. (The Washington Post, August 13, 2015, by Amber Phillips)
Legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union-New Hampshire, Gilles Bissonnette, said the ruling was a win for free expression, “Political speech is essential to a functioning democracy. The First Amendment does not allow the state to, as it was doing here, broadly ban innocent political speech with the hope that such a sweeping ban would address underlying criminal conduct.” (Techdirt, August 13, 2015, by Timothy Geigner)
Rick Hasen argues in Election Law Blog, August 11, 2015, that the secret ballot is crucial to discouraging vote buying and thinks that allowing posting of ballots on the Internet opens the door for verification of how someone voted and subsequent vote buying.