I'm seeing quite a few of these lately on social media given California has mail-in voting. In recent years there seems to be an up tick of this selfie type. I'm struggling to recall where/when it originated from?
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on October 29, 2024, 01:16:56 PMI'm seeing quite a few of these lately on social media given California has mail-in voting. In recent years there seems to be an up tick of this selfie type. I'm struggling to recall where/when it originated from?
I'd argue it originated from identity politics. Before we were as concerned with "which side" we were on, no one cared that you voted, you just did or didn't.
In Massachusetts and some other states it's actually illegal to do so. Not that it's enforced (or should be).
It started with smartphones. I had friends doing it back to early 2010's.
Until a decade or two ago, you never even thought of taking anyone with you into the voting booth, it was simply a private matter.
Mike
Quote from: mgk920 on October 29, 2024, 02:03:21 PMUntil a decade or two ago, you never even thought of taking anyone with you into the voting booth, it was simply a private matter.
Mike
I remember when I was a kid, some parents took their kids into the voting booths, although it wasn't a very good idea. The machines that Fairfax County used back then had a large white "screen" (not a "touchscreen" in the modern sense) that displayed the entire ballot. You touched the box next to the candidate or option you wanted and a red light came on for that item; if you changed your mind, you touched a different candidate or option's box and the red light changed accordingly. When you were done, you hit the big green "VOTE" button. That's where the problem arose: The "VOTE" button was all the way down at the bottom right and it was the one part of the apparatus that was easy for a little kid's curious fingers to find. The pollworkers always admonished parents not to let their children touch anything, but that didn't matter. Inevitably some mother would come out complaining that her kid hit "VOTE" before she was done. The answer was always the same: "Too bad. Your ballot is cast." Nowadays such people would run to the local media crying about having their "vote taken away" or some such.
We don't really have "voting booths" anymore here. Instead, they have desks and tables with cardboard "walls" set up between seats (what one of my grade-school teachers called "barrier walls" that some kids used to set up to prevent others from copying off their tests).
This year I didn't feel like standing on line, so I used the county's website to request an absentee ballot and then I submitted it via a drop box at an "early voting" site this past weekend. Ms1995hoo went to vote in person and waited over two hours, which was the main thing that prompted me to request an absentee ballot instead.
Quote from: SectorZ on October 29, 2024, 01:53:27 PMIn Massachusetts and some other states it's actually illegal to do so. Not that it's enforced (or should be).
....
There's a good chance that laws banning that sort of photo might run afoul of the First Amendment unless the state can show a serious overriding concern—for example, perhaps there is a serious risk of compromising other voters' right to a secret ballot (e.g., if people are taking the photos in such a way that other people are visible in the act of voting).
Quote from: 1995hoo on October 29, 2024, 02:33:11 PMQuote from: SectorZ on October 29, 2024, 01:53:27 PMIn Massachusetts and some other states it's actually illegal to do so. Not that it's enforced (or should be).
....
There's a good chance that laws banning that sort of photo might run afoul of the First Amendment unless the state can show a serious overriding concern—for example, perhaps there is a serious risk of compromising other voters' right to a secret ballot (e.g., if people are taking the photos in such a way that other people are visible in the act of voting).
It seems a part of crumbling election security.
Identifiable picture of a ballot makes purchasing a vote much easier - that way the seller has an easy means to prove things to a buyer. Original reason for private booths is to minimize possible influence, e.g. buyer has no way of verifying the purchase.
^^^^
A fair point—and, of course, until very recently the majority of people didn't walk around with cameras in their pockets at all times, so the idea of taking pictures in a polling place never occurred to most of us other than the occasional media outlet.
USA Today published a guideline of the rules in every state yesterday. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/28/election-ballot-photo-laws-explained/75891964007/) In Minnesota, your ballot has to be kept secret, so no photos of your ballot once it's filled out. Honestly, I don't see the harm if you're only taking a photo of your own ballot.
Quote from: Molandfreak on October 29, 2024, 03:03:47 PMUSA Today published a guideline of the rules in every state yesterday. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/28/election-ballot-photo-laws-explained/75891964007/) In Minnesota, your ballot has to be kept secret, so no photos of your ballot once it's filled out. Honestly, I don't see the harm if you're only taking a photo of your own ballot.
I'm not on the socials much, but I've never seen anyone actually post of a pic of their ballot, merely them with the I Voted sticker on.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on October 29, 2024, 03:06:40 PMQuote from: Molandfreak on October 29, 2024, 03:03:47 PMUSA Today published a guideline of the rules in every state yesterday. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/28/election-ballot-photo-laws-explained/75891964007/) In Minnesota, your ballot has to be kept secret, so no photos of your ballot once it's filled out. Honestly, I don't see the harm if you're only taking a photo of your own ballot.
I'm not on the socials much, but I've never seen anyone actually post of a pic of their ballot, merely them with the I Voted sticker on.
I've posted pictures of my ballot before -- or more correctly, the computer screen showing my choices, as we vote on computers and we don't do the antiquated "fill in a circle or check a box on a piece of paper" thing in Kentucky.
On the other hand, I despise the whole "selfie" culture. There's a reason there are very few pictures of me on my Facebook page. I'm not vain enough to feel the need to slap pics of myself all over the Internet.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on October 29, 2024, 03:06:40 PMQuote from: Molandfreak on October 29, 2024, 03:03:47 PMUSA Today published a guideline of the rules in every state yesterday. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/28/election-ballot-photo-laws-explained/75891964007/) In Minnesota, your ballot has to be kept secret, so no photos of your ballot once it's filled out. Honestly, I don't see the harm if you're only taking a photo of your own ballot.
I'm not on the socials much, but I've never seen anyone actually post of a pic of their ballot, merely them with the I Voted sticker on.
Admittedly, I have done that my first time voting 10 years ago. My mom knew the poll worker personally, and the poll worker said it was ok for her to take a photo of me at the polling location. Of course, it was also meant to commemorate a life milestone, and I haven't taken a photo in the polling station since.
(https://scontent-msp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/10346586_10203644246763378_7735341046877981587_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=7b2446&_nc_ohc=ilgC4GUEuAQQ7kNvgH-RhuY&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-msp1-1.xx&oh=00_AYDaKujXg4xcvSlrNm6gUTLvADY1TUz6He4cr3FKRGeA-A&oe=67489CFB)
Of course without the additional context, there's no way of knowing that photo was taken
inside a polling location. There is a small bit of the ballot counting machine visible, but it looks like a copy machine at that angle.
I took a shit!
(https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.5277644842.6675/st,small,507x507-pad,600x600,f8f8f8.jpg)
The I-Voted sticker is useless.
Who did I vote for?
The idiot whose name was next to the blotted in oval
I got a rock.
There's a club in Las Vegas offering free lap dances on Election Day if you show them an I Voted sticker. So I guess that's one use for the I Voted sticker.
The UK equivalent is way more cute:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2503exwrwlo
Whenever we have an election - social media is aflood with pictures of dogs (and sometimes other animals) outside polling stations captioned "we voted" or something. While photography inside a polling station isn't inherently illegal, its very easy to inadvertently break the law while doing so. Plus the media want something a bit more substantial than the same 'this is how today works' story that is the same every year (they can't do anything political that day beyond 'there is an election going on') and so started the hashtag to get some material.
Quote from: Scott5114 on October 29, 2024, 06:19:02 PMThere's a club in Las Vegas offering free lap dances on Election Day if you show them an I Voted sticker. So I guess that's one use for the I Voted sticker.
Wow! I wonder if I have time to drive to Vegas by Tuesday. (Too bad I'm committed to dropping my car off for an oil and brake fluid change on Tuesday.)