If you’re taking a ballot selfie, know what Arizona’s rules are
Nov 1, 2016, 5:10 AM | Updated: 8:42 am
(Mari Zaporowski/Courtesy of Nikola Halycyone Jordan via AP)
(Mari Zaporowski/Courtesy of Nikola Halycyone Jordan via AP)
PHOENIX — When voting in Arizona this election year, one question that might not have crossed your mind is this: Are we allowed to take a ballot selfie or not?
In Tennessee, Justin Timberlake found out that answer the hard way when he snapped a selfie at a polling place.
In Arizona, a law regarding that issue was just changed in 2015.
“Ballot selfies are now no longer illegal,” said Secretary of State Michele Reagan. “So you can no longer be convicted of a felony for taking a ballot selfie.”
However, you cannot take that selfie inside of a polling place.
“Cameras inside of a polling place are still very much not allowed,” she said.
A long time ago, before social media and camera phones, it was illegal to try to influence someone’s vote, she said. There were laws that said you couldn’t take pictures of voted ballots and distribute them.
“So now along comes social media and along comes camera phones and of course people are taking pictures and selfies of their ballots and posting them on social media,” she said.
Reagan said they spearheaded an effort to update the law and to match today’s trends and technology.
“Now if you want take a picture of you and your own ballot outside of the polling place, or in your own home if you’re voting by mail, that is no longer a felony,” Reagan said.
To be clear, cameras or pictures inside the polling place are still not allowed.
