Colorado Politics

The ballot selfie is back, with Colorado bill to make it legal to post

The ballot selfie seems so 2016.

It was last fall when the goofy Colorado law that says you can’t take a picture of your ballot went all the way to federal court. State Sen. Owen Hill brought the suit, saying the ban was an affront to the First Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Christine Arguell ruled the law was confusing and unenforceable, but she stopped short of rewriting state election law.

House Bill 1014 would do just that: add legal ballot selfies to Colorado’s election laws.

The bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Paul Rosenthal of Denver and Republican Rep. Dave Williams of Colorado Springs, is up for its first hearing Wednesday afternoon before the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

The law dates back to 1891. It was updated in 1980. The idea was to keep people who sold their vote from taking a picture as proof for the buyer.

Last fall, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office defended the state law blocking ballot selfies because it’s required to defend state laws.

The office, however, is in support of the legislation to rewrite the law because it includes provisions to keep vote-trading illegal, said Suzanne Staiert, the deputy secretary of state.

She noted that the bill has failed in the last two sessions. She said she would be at Wednesday’s hearing.

“I never miss the end of a trilogy,” Staiert said.

Unless the bill becomes law, snapping a pic of your vote remains a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000 and up to a year in the county jail.

But in a hundred years, will a lawyer arguing Colorado election law know what a selfie is?


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