Trump or Harris 2024: Ballot selfies are illegal in 13 states. Is yours one?

In the age of social media, it's not uncommon for voters to take photos with their ballots at voting booths across the country, but in some states, taking “ballot selfies” is illegal and offenders can even face prison time.

According to a recent report from the nonprofit Lawyers for Good Government, ballot selfies are illegal in 13 states, while seven states have laws that ban ballot selfies at polling places, but not for absentee or absentee ballots.

“State laws banning ballot selfies are silly and nonsensical. More importantly, they are unconstitutional,” former lawyer and associate law professor Gregg Jarrett told Fox News Digital.

“Such state laws are outdated and have nothing to do with election integrity.”

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Two voters take a selfie after leaving the polling station on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Stockbridge, Georgia. (The Associated Press)

Before secret voting, introduced in the United States in the late 19th century to curb electoral fraud, bribery and intimidation, voters cast their ballots in a transparent glass ball box, according to the Congressional Research Institute.

After the introduction of secret ballots, state laws were enacted to protect voter privacy, but many states have not adapted their laws to modern technologies such as the smartphone and the growth of social media.

“The idea that ballot selfies somehow undermine laws against voter coercion or ballot purchasing is unproven,” Jarrett said. “There is no credible evidence that it has anything to do with voter intimidation. How exactly does it constitute voter fraud, as some states claim? That’s not the case.”

Some states prohibit voters from posting selfies after voting.

In some states, such as New York and South Carolina, taking a ballot selfie is considered a misdemeanor, and in South Carolina, the law banning photos of ballots requires offenders to face up to a year in prison, Fox Carolina reported.

Other states like New Jersey are more lenient in enforcement. While taking a ballot selfie is technically illegal in New Jersey, Secretary of State spokeswoman Trudi Gilfillian said poll workers could simply ask people to stop if they were caught taking photos in the voting booth and would not do so. to enforce the law if they find images posted on social media.

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Voters cast their ballots during Michigan's early voting period on October 29, 2024 in Dearborn. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

“While it is true that citizens have a right to privacy in the voting booth and the law protects their confidentiality when they vote secretly, people are free to waive this right to privacy by publicly disclosing how they voted,” Jarrett noted. “For example, you can tell your friends or even post your choice on social media or other communications.

“The First Amendment preserves the right to free speech to express your voting preference both before and after voting. Taking photos and posting a ballot selfie is simply another form of the same kind of free speech.”

Over the years, courts in Georgia, New Hampshire and Indiana have either struck down or banned laws banning ballot selfies, and most recently a federal judge in North Carolina ordered a district attorney not to prosecute a voter who violated the state's ballot ban selfies, the Carolina Journal reported.

After taking a photo of herself with her completed ballot for the March 2024 primary and sharing it on social media, the voter “received a letter from the North Carolina State Board of Elections requesting her ballot selfie to remove her and threaten her with criminal prosecution,” her lawyers wrote in court papers.

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A man reads election materials before voting on the last day of early voting, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

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“Political speech, including photographs, are constitutionally protected messages,” Jarrett said.

“Many states recognize these common sense arguments and therefore allow selfies because it is consistent with our principles of free expression.”