A word of warning about your ballot

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I noticed that some of you are posting photos of your completed early ballots to Facebook and Twitter. This may run afoul of Arizona law.

A.R.S. § 16-1018 Additional unlawful acts by persons with respect to voting; classification, at paragraph (A) provides:

4. Shows the voter's ballot or the machine on which the voter has voted to any person after it is prepared for voting in such a manner as to reveal the contents, except to an authorized person lawfully assisting the voter.

I am not sure whether this provision has ever been tested in an Arizona court of law for posting a photo of your early ballot on Facebook or Twitter, or whether there is an Attorney General Opinion interpreting this provision of law.

You may recall that some Wisconsin officials got into trouble for doing this during the recent recall election. Officials in Wisconsin unwittingly break law using Facebook:

High-ranking members of both political parties were unaware that posting photos of completed ballots on Facebook or Twitter is illegal in Wisconsin, and they promised to quickly take down the posts Friday after election officials reminded voters of the law.

The law bars voters from showing their completed ballots to anyone. The intent is to prevent people from selling their votes and then showing their ballots as proof they voted as requested, Wisconsin Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney said.

Be smart and just don't do it.

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3 thoughts on “A word of warning about your ballot”

  1. According to the web site documenting your vote http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/arizona-documenting-your-vote:

    “We have not analyzed Arizona’s laws regulating polling place activities yet, but we received the following comment from a site user that went through poll worker training in Arizona:

    In our pollworker training, we were told that it is illegal in AZ for any filming/photography to take place in the polling place while the polls are open. Photos can be taken after the polls close as long as the photographer does not interfere with the poll workers as they close out the polls. We were told to ask anyone with a camera to put it out of sight – either in a purse, pocket or return it to their car. If anyone does not wish to abide by our request, we are to call our Troubleshooter who will deal with the problem.”

    I can attest that this is, in fact, what poll workers are taught. So if it is illegal to photograph (a ballot) in a polling place, by extension it may also be illegal to photograph your early mail-in ballot at home. Who is going to know unless you post it to Facebook or other social media with your account ID?

    This rule was the basis for opposition by the Secretary of State to scanning ballots for the purpose of an independent audit of the vote. A pilot program has now been approved by the legislature.

    There are public policy reasons for the statute: preserving the secrecy of the ballot (preventing connecting the ballot to the identity of the voter), preventing interference with other voters or the secrecy of their ballot (voter intimidation), and preventing people from selling their votes and then showing their ballots as proof that they voted as requested.

    The web site has links to the various state laws on this subject. http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/state-law-documenting-your-vote

  2. It would make for an interesting court case. I wonder if the ACLU would help the defendant. My feeling is that the state is happy to look the other way. What is the rationale behind the regulation? What harm is it designed to prevent? Does that outweigh Thane’s or anyone’s freedom of speech? Is there caselaw from other jurisdictions to guide us?

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