As New Hampshire residents head to the polls Tuesday, a federal appeals court in Concord will begin hearing arguments on whether voters should be allowed to display so-called “ballot selfies.”
Gilles Bissonnette, legal director for the New Hampshire ACLU, says Granite Staters have a right to take a picture of their election ballots and share it with whomever they please.
“It’s important because we’re dealing with political speech,” he says, “which is entitled to heightened protections under the first amendment.”
In 2014, New Hampshire became the first state in the nation to ban a person from displaying a photo of a marked ballot. Last year, a federal court struck down the ballot selfie ban. Now, the state is appealing that decision.
Ballot selfies are currently legal, pending the outcome of the state’s appeal.
