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Should ballot selfies be legal?
- Yes
- No
- Unsure
While New Yorkers may be tempted to commemorate their participation in this year’s highly consequential election by taking a photo of their ballot, doing so is actually a crime.
Under state law, it is a misdemeanor offense for a voter to snap a picture with their completed ballot.
“Any person who shows his ballot after it is prepared for voting, to any person so as to reveal the contents, or solicits a voter to show the same, is guilty of a misdemeanor,” reads the text from New York State election law.
According to the New York State Board of Elections, the purpose of the law is to prevent voter coercion, intimidation, or vote buying.
Fourteen states have similar laws barring ballot selfies, data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression shows.
A bill introduced by Democratic New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal last legislative session would have permitted taking photos of completed ballots for the purpose of sharing on social media. However, the bill never made it out of committee.
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