Feel free to tell your friends whether you’re voting for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump this election – just don’t do it by posting a picture of your ballot on social media.
Though the age of Instagram has made doing your civic duty more shareable than ever, the phenomenon known best by the misnomer “ballot selfie” is not actually legal yet in California.
The Legislature did recognize the political crisis at hand and passed a new law this session to reverse the 125-year-old provision of the state election code prohibiting voters from revealing the contents of their marked ballot. But it doesn’t take effect until 2017, leaving California as one of 19 states this November where photos of your vote are strictly off-limits.
That said, if there’s already a shot on Facebook of an absentee ballot on which you were with her or made American great again, don’t worry about calling your lawyer.
According to an Assembly analysis of the bill, “The Secretary of State's office indicates that they have no records of a voter ever having been prosecuted in the state for showing his or her marked ballot to another person.”
Alexei Koseff: 916-321-5236, @akoseff
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