The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has announced it is helping sue North Carolina’s State Board of Elections over a ban, which the group considers unconstitutional, of what are known as “ballot selfies.”
FIRE is supporting a lawsuit filed by Susan Hogarth against members of the North Carolina board.
We obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here.
This US state treats taking photos or videos of a voted ballot as a misdemeanor. Hogarth found herself on the wrong side of this rule when she took a selfie with a ballot paper and then posted it on X, as a form of support for her chosen candidate.
This happened in early March during the North Carolina Libertarian Party primary.
But Hogarth is also vocal in her opposition to rules banning this sort of behavior, and made sure to express that opinion, too, when she photographed a sign in front of the voting premises that warned against taking photos in the voting booth – and then posted that picture on X as well.
“Laws against #ballotselfie are bullshit,” was the caption. FIRE agrees.
And, the non-profit noted, not only do several statutes in North Carolina make it a crime to do what Hogarth did in the voting booth: but this is true also of, for example, “posing with absentee ballots in the comfort of your own home.”
After the posts on X, the state election board then sent Hogarth a letter, threatening fines or even jail unless she deleted them. She decided not to and instead went for suing the board on First Amendment grounds – namely, that the government can only restrict free speech if there’s a compelling reason.
Nothing about North Carolina officials’ actions, or the state rules, indicates that there’s such a reason, FIRE said – hence, the lawsuit.
And even though North Carolina is not alone in this – 13 other states have similar rules – citizens fairly routinely ignore them. “More than 20 million Americans nationwide say they’ve taken a ‘ballot selfie’,” FIRE remarks.
The group’s attorney Jeff Zeman said that what these people are doing is core political speech, while innocent citizens are criminalized for behavior that is protected by the First Amendment.
Hogarth and FIRE want the court to overturn all laws in North Carolina designed to prohibit photos of ballots, and “ballot selfies.”
