No Ballot Selfies in Michigan Now: 6th Circuit Court

Sorry, Michigan voters, you can stop practicing your Election Day selfie smile in the bathroom mirror. You’re going to have to be content to post a picture of an “I voted” sticker on your lapel to tell your social media friends that you participated in the hallmark of this American democracy and cast your ballot in the Nov. 8 election. Despite a federal court’s Monday ruling striking down the state ban on ballot selfies, they’re illegal again in Michigan.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of the ruling by U.S. District Judge Janet Neff, who cited First Amendment freedom of expression protections when she struck down the polling place photography ban. Michigan banned ballot selfies more than a century before there was such a thing — or at least, that was the position of Secretary of State Ruth Johnson who invoked a 125-year law “designed to protect the secret ballot by forbidding voters from exposing their marked ballots to others.”

A three judge panel of the 6th Circuit voted, 2-1, to grant the stay, saying that with only 10 days remaining before the election, there wasn’t time for officials to discuss the ramifications freewheeling selfie-snapping might have on “Michigan’s vulnerable voting protocols.”

In a dissenting opinion, a third judge wrote the ban would “put the administrative interests of the state above the individual rights of the citizens of Michigan.”

Ballot selfies turned into something of a nationwide kerfuffle after Justin Timberlake traveled more than 1,700 miles back to Memphis, Tennessee, to cast an early ballot. He shared a selfie on social media, along with the #rockthevote hashtag. On Instagram, he wrote:

“No excuses, my good people! There could be early voting in your town too. If not, November 8th! Choose to have a voice! If you don't, then we can't HEAR YOU!”

Timberlake removed the photo from his Instagram account after the local prosecutor's office said the selfie violated a new Tennessee law prohibiting the use of phones “for telephone conversations, recording, or taking photographs or videos while inside the polling place.”

Officials in Tennessee later issued a statement, saying they didn’t plan to go after Timberlake because election laws can be murky.

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The 6th Circuit panel’s ruling was a victory for Michigan’s anti-selfie camp headed by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, who was sued in September by Joel Crookston, of Portage, who wanted to stop Johnson from citing the long-standing law as a reason to ban ballot-box selfies.

However, the two-judge majority said Johnson’s photography ban the polls “seems to be a content-neutral regulation that reasonably protects voters’ privacy — and honors a long tradition of protecting the secret ballot.”

In a statement Friday night, Johnson said the ruling means “voters can continue to vote with confidence and without the potential for outside influence.”

Where They’re Legal, Where They’re Not

According to NBC News, the 21 states that allow ballot-box selfies are Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

Michigan no is one of 20 no-selfie states: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The law is unclear in nine states: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

You can read the 6th Circuit ruling here.

Photo by Holger Thie via Flickr Commons