Say goodbye to scenery selfies or selfies with your food or drinks and say hello to taking ballot selfies.  California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill last month that allows Californians to legally take pictures with their marked ballots after the California Assembly voted 57-11 to send the legislation to the governor.
The so-called “ballot selfies bill” was created and presented by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) as an attempt to help increase the state’s poor voter turnout.
In today’s society, where taking a selfie is almost as important as breathing, many California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State) students can see why ballot selfies can increase voting for young adults but cannot understand why it has been illegal in the first place.
Stan State student Stacy Hanson (senior, Political Science) was shocked to learn that this has been the case in California up until the passing of this legislation and shared that she has never personally taken a ballot selfie.
“I feel like it’s weird that it was illegal. As long as you are only taking a picture of just yourself and your ballot it would be sort of self-expression, so I don’t know why it would be illegal.  I feel like someone would have said that that wasn’t against the bill of rights,” Hanson stated.
Despite the bill’s original aims, some Stan State students do not seem to think that it will spark interest in voting.
“I don’t really think it matters that much. I don’t see why they would make a bill for something like that that doesn’t really matter, but at the same time why is it illegal?” Matthew Manning (senior, Business) said.
Manning does not have an interest in taking selfies, which is why he says this new bill does not affect his voting behavior. Manning will be voting this election, but will only display his “I voted” sticker.
Before rushing to find the perfect lighting when mailing in your ballot or doing your hair prior to heading for the voting polls to ensure that perfect ballot selfie, note that this bill will not come into effect until Jan. 1, 2017. Sadly, ballot selfies in California will not be trending this historic November election.
Hanson sees this bill as help to get Californians excited about voting.
“I feel like anything that you can take a picture of and put on Instagram, people get excited about it and then they want to join this trend so I wouldn’t be surprised if they [voters] did,” Hanson said.
Ballot selfies are currently legal in the following states: Maine, New Hampshire, Delaware, Indiana, North Dakota, Arizona, Oregon, Wyoming and Utah.
Ballot selfies are illegal in Nevada, Montana, Colorado, Alaska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
Ballot selfie regulations are unclear in Washington, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Arkansas, Minnesota, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, and Maryland, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island.