Taking a selfie with your ballot is illegal in NC. A Raleigh woman is suing to change that.
North Carolinians’ right to a certain type of selfie is going to court.
Susan Hogarth, a Raleigh native and Libertarian candidate for state Senate, sued the State Board of Elections on Thursday over its enforcement of the state’s ban on “ballot selfies.”
North Carolina, along with several other states, bans taking photos of voted ballots. The reason behind this ban is that those photos could be used as proof in a vote-buying scheme, the State Board of Elections has explained in the past.
Asked about the lawsuit on Thursday, a spokesperson for the board said they generally do not comment on pending litigation.
In the March primary election, Hogarth posted a photo of herself and her voted Libertarian ballot, on which she selected Chase Oliver for president and Mike Ross for governor.
“Laws against #ballotselfie are bullshit,” her Tweet said.
Shortly after posting her photo, Hogarth received a letter from the State Board of Elections informing her that she had broken the law by sharing a photo of her ballot.
“The NCSBE has a duty to investigate violations of election laws in North Carolina,” it said. “... Photographing a voted ballot is prohibited by law and is punishable as a Class 1 Misdemeanor.”
The letter asked Hogarth to delete the post.
Instead, she sued.
“It would have been easier to just take the post down,” Hogarth said in a press release. “But in a free society, you should be able to show the world how you voted without fear of punishment. Privacy is good for those who want it, openness should be available to those who prefer it.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court with the help of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, alleges that the state’s ballot selfie ban violates the First Amendment.
“Ballot selfie bans turn innocent Americans into criminals for nothing more than showing their excitement about how they voted, or even just showing that they voted,” FIRE attorney Jeff Zeman said in a press release. “That’s core political speech protected by the First Amendment.”
Several states have similar bans on ballot selfies, including New York and Texas. Other states, however, like California and Alabama, have passed laws permitting voters to share photos of their ballots.
Hogarth is running in Senate District 13 against Democratic incumbent Lisa Grafstein and Republican challenger Scott Lassiter.
This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Taking a selfie with your ballot is illegal in NC. A Raleigh woman is suing to change that.."
