According to the Digital Media Law Center, Oregon is one of many states that prohibits filming or photographing one’s own vote and afterwards displaying the image on a publicly accessible platform like the Internet. At least that was the case in 2012 and ProPublica also reported in 2012 –
Laws against displaying your ballot are motivated by concerns about vote buying, since voters being bribed might need to be prove they voted a certain way.
While laws vary from state to state, the penalties for showing your ballot can be stiff.
“It’s illegal to display your voted ballot and violators could be convicted of a misdemeanor,” Colorado secretary of state spokesman Richard Coolidge told ProPublica. The penalty, according to Colorado law: a fine of not more than $1000, imprisonment in county jail for not more than one year — or both.
Melissa Cribbins, a “lawyer by training” has published a photograph of a marked ballot on her Facebook page which appears to be a clear violation of Oregon law.
Many of these laws were written before the digital age but the reasons behind them may still stand.
Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, Irvine, said that taking a picture of your marked ballot is “bad news.”
“Hard as it is to believe, before the secret ballot there was a lot more vote buying and we don’t want more of that now,” he wrote in an email.
UPDATE: Thanks to reader “wassup” for contacting the Attorney General for clarification. Apparently, the law restricting publishing your own marked ballot changed April 1, 2014.
Thank you for your inquiry. ORS 260.695 used to prohibit showing a marked ballot to another person, but that provision was repealed in the last legislative session. The repeal was made by SB 1515, which went into effect April 1, 2014. A synopsis of election law changes from the last session, including this change, can be found here: http://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Documents/2014-Synopsis.pdf
They synopsis of changes indicates the following:
260.695 SB 1515 §6 Amend Prohibitions related to voting
- Limits electioneering prohibition during times that ballots are out to hours county elections office is open to the public.
- Removes prohibition against person showing own marked ballot to another person to show how it was marked.
You may have also noted candidate Cribbins inconsistencies (more). When filing for Commissioner she is Melissa Trefla; here she is Melissa Wilcutt. Will the real Melisa please stand up?
She also posted a copy of Merkley’s ballot box? Why? Where do we file a complaint if Rowe does not win tomorrow?