In my mind, when thinking about changing laws we have to balance the issues that the law was intended to fix, and the benefits to those who believe the law is cumbersome.
I am quite unsympathetic to those who want to have ballot selfies. The complaint of those who want to change the law, that they are accustomed to document every minute of their lives, that they can afford the latest and best phone and have a right to use it, that they are oppressed because they cannot take a picture, is of little consequence. No one has established a right to take photos of oneself anytime on wishes. It is of no real consequence that one cannot take a picture of oneself at the voting booth s opposed to elsewhere around the voting location is non existent. If you are standing outside with I voted sticker, that is still a good picture.
The consequences of pictures in the voting location, especially in the voting booth, are significant. Voter fraud is almost non existent because we have a generation of norms that are respected and honored. Even the Trumps, some of whom are registered to vote in multiple districts, apparently only vote in one.
The consequences are not just the possibility of selling votes. There is also a privacy issue. Even with no nefarious or potential danger, I believe that each of us has an inherent right to some level of privacy in the voting location. I know that some locations do take pictures of voters, and we have seen many photos here of people voting which is fine, as long as they are controlled and steps are taken to make sure that everyone’s privacy is respected.
I guess privacy is a big deal for me given the changes we see is the expectations we can assume. Everything we do online is analyzed and scrutinized. The police have an expectation that they have a right to any piece of information they wish on the slightest whim of a suspicion. I was watching s TV show the other day where a librarian gave a private citizen the tapes of a patron who was using library resources. I know the later seems innocuous, but as person who grew up in a library culture, the lapse in privacy expectation is astounding.
I do agree with the sentiment that, at the end of the day, the justification for limiting photos in a voting location are not nearly as critical as they once were. On the other hand, I do not see any overwhelming need to allow more photography in a voting location. I mean there are a lot of people who want to do things just because they think they have the right, but we don’t let them. And I know maybe people might vote if we let them take their picture, but maybe we don’t want people who are so immature that they are going to throw a temper tantrum, and maybe vote for those who value individual rights over the need of the country, because they can’t take a selfie.