No More Facebookin’ Your Ballot

If your Facebook friends are similar to mine, you probably saw several of them post a picture of their ballots on election day last November proudly showing everyone they voted for Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, or any of the other candidates they support.

It may sound odd to some, but sharing pictures of the major and mundane events of our lives has become a part of our new social media dominated world.  People like me often share picture of our kids doing a whole host of adorable things – much to their grandparents’ delight and our friends’ annoyance.  Others – known as foodies – seem to post a picture of almost every food item they whip up in the kitchen or order in a restaurant.

But if state lawmakers have their way, posting a picture of your ballot will soon no longer be allowed.

Rep. Ken “Facebook” Bragg (R-Sheridan) is the sponsor of HB1712 which is part of the legislature’s focus on voter integrity this session. The majority of the bill focuses on who is allowed in the polling place and attempts to keep people who really have no business being there out.  But the last section of bill would ban voters from taking a photo of their marked ballot.

“A person shall not use photographic, electronic monitoring, recording, or cellular devices in a polling place to take a picture of a voter’s marked ballot,” reads HB1712 in its current form, which passed with 83 votes in the House on Friday and is now on its way to the Senate.

“It would be difficult to enforce, but obviously it would be a tool that a prosecutor could use in case somebody is using their cell phone camera to take a picture and send it back to somebody to prove how they voted so that they could get paid for voting that way,” explained Tim Humphries, Legal Counsel for the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners in testifying for the measure in the House State Agencies Committee on Wednesday.

Rep. Bragg clarified that there are no penalties attached to the new rule, so while those posting their completed ballots would be breaking the law, they do not have to worry about a state police manhunt to lock them in jail or impose any fines.

Still, you have to wonder if the state can ban people from exercising their free speech rights to tell everyone for whom they voted.  It seems to me that the right to make your ballot public by your own free will is as important as the right to keep your ballot secret.