n I broke the law 8 years ago, and I didn’t even know I was doing it. Fortunately, nobody reported me to the authorities.
It was election day, and I was absolutely bursting with pride that I had helped make the historic election of the United States’ first African-American president happen. So, in the voting booth, I snapped a picture of my ballot with the circle filled in next to Barack Obama’s name, and when I got home I posted it on my LiveJournal.
Much to my surprise, one of my progressive friends took me to task for it. Not because I was breaking Michigan law (which I now know I was ), but because I was violating the sanctity of the voting booth. I replied that I had done it because I was really proud, not because I didn’t respect the secrecy of the ballot. As long as nobody is compelled to reveal who they voted for, there’s no harm.
Michigan is one of the states that prohibits “ballot selfies,” something it had never even occurred to me existed.
My little picture wasn’t a selfie. In fact, it didn’t even prove who I voted for, since it was just the ballot and not the voter in the picture.
Selfies are not my thing. I’d just as soon my face didn’t show up in pictures most of the time. But it apparently is a thing for young voters. And frankly, I can’t see how young people proudly showing off their ballots could be a bad thing. We need more young people taking the trouble to vote, and if taking selfies makes them want to vote, then snap away!
New Hampshire just repealed its prohibition on ballot selfies. A pretty minor thing, really, but hey, I’m in favor of anything that gets more people to vote, young and old.
I was going to post my little ballot picture from 2008 in this story, but DKos’ image upload tool seems to be borked this morning. No matter. I’ve taken the privacy lock off my three LiveJournal posts for election day 2008. I had completely forgotten the first one, which was about my dogs’ party affiliations. Reading it now, I’m quite amused. If you want to see my reactions to my participation in electing Barack Obama, go here.
My first novel in more than 30 years is available on Amazon as an ebook. It’s a humorous look at this year’s primaries as a roman a clef. Check out Demon Democracy, for an antidote to the election cycle blues.