Is California's ban on voting booth selfies a threat to free speech?
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Taking a selfie is not illegal, but taking a selfie at a voting booth is, if you live in California.
This week the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Alex Padilla challenging two statutes that prohibit voters from sharing ballot selfies.
Justin Timberlake's recent selfie at a Tennessee ballot box created a bit of an uproar on Instagram.
Not only are ballot selfies not legal in Tennessee, they're not legal in California either.
Tiffani Steele, who works in San Francisco, she's all for ballot selfies. "It's just showing everyone that you're voting and you care about what's going on in the world."
But Christina Fang, who is not yet an American citizen, disagrees. She told KTVU that ballot selfies denigrate the voting process. "I don't think [you should be able to do that] because voting is really important thing, a selfie is kind of a casual thing."
The ACLU says the current ban threatens Americans' right to free speech.
"This is exactly why we have a First Amendment; so that people can talk about elections people can talk about candidates, people can talk about issues," said Michael Risher, a senior attorney with the ACLU in San Francisco. Risher believes the 125-year-old law is simply outdated, created in an era when votes may have been bought or sold or when people could be coerced into voting a certain way. That time he says, has passed.
The California ban on photographing and a sharing your ballot was repealed but the new law doesn't take effect until January, after the Presidential election.
"To invoke a new practice literally seven days before election day really doesn't make a lot of sense," said John Arntz, the Director of the San Francisco Department of Elections. But while his polling place will adhere to the current ban, he admits his office can't exactly enforce it. "I mean we're not chasing people down in voting booths and taking away their cameras or their phones."
Secretary of State Alex Padilla issued a memo on October 12th advising state election officials that the ban remained in effect, but the ACLU fought it. Tomorrow the issue will be heard in State Court in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, this afternoon Padilla sent out a statement today which read, "My office stands ready to comply with any decision handed down by the court on this matter."
"This is significant because the government's response so far has been that an order would be too disruptive for the government to comply with," said Risher.
No matter what the outcome is tomorrow, Artnz said his office is reminding voters to be respectful, and not take selfies in a way that invades others' privacy or intimidates others.
"A selfie is an individual act but at the same time voting is a community act," said Arntz.
Tennesee officials have said that they will not pursue action against Timberlake who has since deleted his ballot selfie Instagram, but come tomorrow it may be legal for others to #rockthevote and snap selfies all they want.