New Hampshire: First Circuit Appeals Court allows ballot box selfies

A federal appeals court blocked a New Hampshire law prohibiting selfies in the ballot box declaring the law a violation of free speech rights and the First Amendment. Voters have been taking photos of their completed ballot and posting them on the Internet.  (WMUR, September 28, 2016, by Jean Mackin and Kirk Enstrom)

The court accepted New Hampshire’s argument that the law was intended to stop voter fraud, but thought it could avoid thwarting political expression with a “narrow tailoring” of the law. Mark Joseph Stern, Slate, September 28, 2016, writes that the court understood ballot selfies were central to the voting experience for young people and could even promote voter turnout and democracy.

Jeff Hermes of the Digital Media Law Project, November 2, 2011, analyzed ballot box selfie bans concluding: “Most states take extensive measures to protect voters from undue influence, and rightly so. Voting is the fundamental method by which American citizens exercise their rights of self-governance, and it is essential to combat corruption of the process. However, the extraordinary importance of voting also requires that we be free as citizens to discuss our experiences at the polls, including the people for whom we voted if we so wish. Otherwise, we begin to lose the protection against corruption and error that the First Amendment itself provides.”