Snapchat Fights For Voters' Right To Take "Ballot Selfies" On Election Day
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Snapchat is fighting for your right to take a selfie in the voting booth and share it on social media.
Snapchat says a "ballot selfie" is protected by the First Amendment -- and Sara Rose from the Pennsylvania ACLU agrees.
"If you are in the voting booth and take a picture of your ballot, then cast your ballot and go home, and then put it online, then you've already voted," Rose said, "so I don't think that would violate the law."
The social network has filed a 26-page brief against a ballot selfie ban in New Hampshire. It argues user-generated political coverage is a major source of content on the service.
Laws on these photos vary state by state. Although not specifically outlawed from inside the voting booth in Pennsylvania, pictures of polling places are -- with a fine as high as $1,000.
"The concern of states that don't want people to be able to take photos in the voting booth is that there could be a situation where someone says 'look, I'll give you $1000 if you vote for my candidate, but I need proof,' so the voter takes a picture."
Last summer, a federal court struck down the New Hampshire law and now the case is being appealed in the First Circuit court.
The various bans were put in place to prevent voter fraud.
"Now I have heard stories about people being told they can't bring cell phones in to polling place," Rose said, "but there is actually no law against that either."
Snapchat argues that ballot selfies are an important part of the political process for young voters and can encourage voter turnout. It compares sharing the images to wearing campaign buttons or "I Voted" stickers.
The social media network says "the ballot selfie captures the very essence of the political process as it happens — the pulled lever, the filled-in bubble, the punched-out chad — and thus dramatizes the power that one person has to influence our government."
