L4GG’s Model Policy on Ballot Selfies

Circuit Court Judge Myrna Perez, formerly the director of the Brennan Center’s voting rights and elections program, has recommended that these laws be “revisited and revamped as societal norms and concerns evolve.”1 State-based advocacy organizations nationwide, including the Coalition for Good Governance in Georgia2 and ACLU affiliates in New Hampshire,3 Indiana,4 and California,5 have successfully challenged ballot selfie bans in court.6

The following policy is based on current laws in Alabama, California, Colorado, Hawaii, and Oklahoma. It ensures that all voters will be able to legally take and post a ballot selfie to social media, and specifies that in doing so, a person consents to the selfie being shared by others. 

To read L4GG’s full policy report on Ballot Selfies which includes a survey of relevant state law in all states and hyperlink citations to those provisions in each state’s code, click here.

  1. A voter, before or while casting a vote at a polling location or via a mail-in or absentee ballot, may take a digital image or photograph of the voter’s own marked ballot and voluntarily distribute or share the image or photograph on the internet or through other electronic means if that act is performed in compliance with state and federal law.

  2. Any voter who distributes or shares an image or photograph of the voter’s own marked ballot is deemed to have consented to the transmittal of that image, and any redistribution of the image by any person does not constitute a violation of this section.

 

1. Christopher Cicchiello and Kerry Breen, “Could your ballot selfie get you in trouble with the law? In some states, yes,” Today, Oct. 27, 2020, https://www.today.com/tmrw/it-illegal-take-ballot-selfie-it-depends-state-laws-t196190

2. Mark Niesse, “Judge strikes down part of Georgia voting law that banned photography,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Aug. 20, 2021, https://www.ajc.com/politics/judge-strikes-down-part-of-georgia-voting-law-that-banned-photography/JCMUOR5AVJDSPNEPIZNU3PNESA/

3. ACLU of New Hampshire, “U.S. Supreme Court Allows First Circuit Decision Striking Down New Hampshire’s ‘Ballot Selfie’ Ban to Stand,” Apr. 3, 2017, https://www.aclu-nh.org/en/news/us-supreme-court-allows-first-circuit-decision-striking-down-new-hampshires-ballot-selfie-ban

4. ACLU of Indiana, “ACLU of Indiana Wins Challenge to State’s Ballot Photo Law,” Oct. 20, 2015, https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-indiana-wins-challenge-states-ballot-photo-law

5. The ACLU Foundation of Northern California, “ACLU Foundations of California v. Alex Padilla (Ballot Selfies), Oct. 31, 2016, https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/legal-docket/aclu-foundations-california-v-alex-padilla-ballot-selfies

6. Please note that, at the time of publication, the model policy is endorsed by Lawyers for Good Government and the New Georgia Project, but has not been endorsed by any of the organizations described above. It is, however, drafted to further the same goals.