With Election Day just days away and early voting already underway in many states, you may be planning to share a selfie with your “I Voted” sticker or your absentee ballot to social media to encourage your friends to do their civic duty and make their voices heard. Before you do, it’s important to remember that some states don’t allow voters to take photos at polling places, and others don’t allow you to take pictures of a marked ballot at all — even if it’s a mail-in ballot.
CNN has put out a new map of each state’s policies regarding taking photos inside polling places or of marked ballots. Twenty-three states have minimal restrictions, including California, where you’re free to take photos outside and inside your polling place as well as take selfies with your ballot.
Nineteen states are categorized as having “some restrictions,” like in New York, where you’re not allowed to take a photo of a marked ballot, but you can take photos inside or outside your polling place — as long as you’re upstate and not in New York City, where the city has its own rules and practices and does not allow polling place photos.
Eight states have “strong restrictions,” including Illinois and Georgia, where it’s illegal to take selfies with your ballot or take photos inside your polling location. (You are, however, allowed to take photos outside.) To check out the complete map and read more about your state’s policies, click here.
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