Ballot Selfies Law Gets Muzzle Award

The 2015 Muzzle Awards are out and once again, a political figure from the Granite State gets a nod in the collection of free speech outrages put together by Northeastern University journalism professor and noted media critic, Dan Kennedy.

A couple of years ago, the muzzle award went to former New Hampshire Speaker of the House state Rep. William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, for banning the Concord Monitor’s Statehouse bureau from his office for a press availability about EBT card abuse, a story that made national headlines by Concord NH Patch.

This year, a Democrat, state Rep. Timothy Horrigan, D-Durham, gets the muzzle award for his “new form of digital harassment,” the ballot selfie ban.

According to published reports, Horrigan has stated that a picture of a voter’s choices on election days “compromises the secrecy and decency of the ballot.” Here’s the full text of the law on Horrigan’s website.

The law, however, has been challenged by the NH ACLU, which is representing state Rep. Leon Rideout, R-Lancaster, Brandon Ross, an attorney and Free Stater, and Andrew Langlois, a craftsman from Berlin.

Read the full list of 2015 Muzzle Awards on wgbh.org.

Caption: State Rep. Timothy Horrigan, D-Durham, in a Concord NH Patch file photo.