Can You Take A 'Selfie' With Your Ballot In CA?

CALIFORNIA — Were you hoping to snap a celebratory selfie with your ballot this Election Day? You're lucky you live in California.

Taking a photograph with a ballot only became legal in California in 2017, when then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 1494, which reversed a law that barred state residents from showing anyone their marked ballots.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the California Secretary of State in 2016 seeking to repeal the ban, arguing that photographing or sharing a ballot is political speech protected by the First Amendment.

Then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla agreed that the law was outdated and should be reformed.

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"Across the country, 'ballot selfies' posted on social media have become a new form of political expression used to showcase one’s civic pride and participation," Padilla said.

So, as long as your ballot selfie moment doesn't cause a disruption at the polls, Californians are free to take and share such photos. You may also not photograph or record a voter entering or exiting a polling place.

However, ballot selfies aren't legal in every state. Ballot selfies are illegal in Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

While you're free to take photos with your ballot in California, there are other polling place faux pas you should be aware of.

Here's what you cannot do while in the vicinity of a person in line to case their ballot or within 100 feet of the entrance of a polling place:

• Do not ask a person to vote for or against a candidate or ballot measure.
• Do not display a candidate's name, image or logo.
• Do not block access to or loiter near any ballot drop boxes.
• Do not provide any material or audible information for or gainst any candidate or ballot measure near any polling place.
• Do not hand out petitions.
• Do not give out or wear shirts with a candidate's name, image, logo or ballot measure.
• Do not display information or speak to a voter about their eligibility to vote.
• Do not display any unofficial ballot collection container that may trick a voter into thinking it is official.

See more of what is prohibited at the polls here.