Good work everyone, our long national nightmare is (hopefully) almost over. As we enter into the last week of the election and people start getting real tangible ballots in their hand, let’s review some of the hot topics around casting a vote in this country.
#1 – Beware the ballot selfie
Sort of. The truth is our founding fathers did not account for the idea of a “ballot selfie,” much less that voters would want to volunteer that information candidly across a series of tubes so all their friends could virtually like it. So the courts are finding themselves in a bit of a bind.
The issue isn’t majorly recent—laws banning the practice date back a few years—but in a presidential election year it’s getting a lot more attention than usual. As the board stands at the moment, 18 states have laws making selfies from the voting booth or a polling place illegal. In 19 other states and D.C. they’re legal. For the states in the middle, it’s a bit of a question mark.
Of course some of these laws have made their way through the court system, and many courts have resoundingly found that the government is violating the First Amendment when more specific solutions existed. But just last week the Sixth Circuit stood in opposition of every other court to consider the question.
“[It’s not clear] whether a ban on ballot selfies ‘significantly impinges’ Crookston’s First Amendment rights. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but social media users can (and do) post thousands of words about whom they vote for and why,” wrote the majority, in direct opposition to the First Circuit’s own findings on the matter.
So if you’re in Michigan—or one of the 17 other states where a law explicitly bans you from posting a selfie—beware. If you’re in the 19 states where it’s allowed, enjoy your 21st century “I voted” sticker. If you’re in between, vote strong, but selfie with caution.
#2 – Your employer can’t coerce your vote
Yes, we get it, tensions are running high this election. Yes we all would like our candidate to have an easy ride in. No you can’t tell your employees who to vote for, or incentivize their voting in any one direction. As Jason Shinn writes for the Michigan Employment Law Advisor, even talking too much about the election could come off the wrong way:
…employers may come under the scrutiny of the Federal Election Commission if political proselytizing becomes employee coercion with respect to political activity and campaign contributions.
And even if not a criminal violation, interjecting politics into the workplace often creates conflict among co-workers. Consider the Wall Street Journal, by Rachel Feintzeig and John Simons, recently reported on the rise of workplace problems involving political polarization:
There was no mincing words. ‘You either let her go, or I go,’ a senior executive at FrescoData told the company’s human-resources manager earlier this month. The executive supports Republican Donald Trump for president. The co-worker he says he can no longer work with has made no secret of her plan to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Maybe on November 9 we can all talk a bit more calmly about our political choices. But until election day is over, workplaces should tread lightly.
#3 – No other people can’t coerce your vote either.
That acidic political climate is everywhere, including possibly at your local polling place.
At this point both Democrats and Republicans have expressed fears that their rivals will be showing up at voting locations to harass and intimidate voters into joining their side. The DNC even went so far as to ask a federal judge in New Jersey to hold the RNC in contempt for seeking to intimidate minority voters.
It’s extreme, and possibly won’t be granted, but it’s not without fear. Trump’s campaign has been pushing supporters to participate as “election observers,” and the rhetoric from his camp has seemed strongly questionable. And as The New York Times editorial board points out, this year is primed for some sort of questionable behavior:
The danger is exacerbated now that the Justice Department is sending only a fraction of the 32,000 federal election observers it deployed around the country in 2012 to help deter intimidation tactics. This cutback is the direct result of the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision striking down the heart of the Voting Rights Act, which had required states and jurisdictions with the worst histories of voter discrimination to get pre-approval from federal courts before making any changes to their voting laws.
Republicans have long known that their chances of winning go up when the number of voters — and especially minority voters — goes down. The party’s embrace of Mr. Trump, even as he openly urges “everybody to go out and watch” polling places because “we don’t want this election stolen from us” is another manifestation of its shameful record on voter suppression.
This November 8, make sure you know your voting rights in your locality. And maybe take a glance at the rules regarding what election observers (and their ilk) can and can’t do. Remember that your vote is your voice, and it is your own.