The tide is turning on selfie bans in voting booths, a pervasive trend which has seen many US states act against those who wish to share their vote on Facebook and Instagram. The news comes after US voters were warned against taking selfies while voting.

Earlier in the year, Bill Gardner, New Hampshire’s secretary of state, implied that voters might be bullied into voting for a certain party and ballot selfies could be used as proof if taking photos was allowed. Snapchat later filed an amicus brief which argued that, “ballot selfies are the latest way that voters, especially young voters, engage with the political process. ”

With other organisations weighing in on the debate to point out that Gardner’s fear of voter intimidation was disproportionate, New Hampshire voters are now permitted to take ballot selfies following a federal court ruling which reverses a ban enforced since 2014.

Federal appeals court rules that ballot selfies are protected by the First Amendment pic. twitter. com/8lt0BlehFA

Embedded Javascript

At present, 26 states current forbid ballot selfies, 14 states are unclear on the matter, and only 9 states allow it - Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming.

Many still argue that sharing your vote online can ultimately sway the voting system especially for undecided voters. However, others dispute that taking a selfie at the polls is no different to wearing a campaign button in public and a ban infringes upon a person’s free speech.

2016-10-7 03:00