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Why NC bans ballot selfies

NC bans any kind of picture with your completed ballot and so do 18 other states. At least 24 states allow you to take pictures and many allow you to post them.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — You're masked up and ready to vote. You can take pics of yourself standing in line, show where the standing markers are, and even the disposable Plexiglass.

Stop right here. Taking a selfie with your ballot or just a pic of your voted ballot is illegal in NC and 18 other states.

Check out this map from The Business Insider. All the purple states ban pictures of your completed ballot. The yellow states only allow photos of mailed ballots, there are 7 of them, and the green states, there are 24 of them, allow you to take pictures and many even allow you to post them.

Credit: The Business Insider

North Carolina law states –

No person shall photograph, videotape, or otherwise record the image of a voted official ballot for any purpose not otherwise permitted under law

The North Carolina State Board of Elections explains why,  
Photographing a marked ballot is illegal in part because such photographs could be used as proof of a vote for a candidate in a vote-buying scheme.

The legal ways to display your voting pride? The old ‘I Voted’ sticker selfie
 or showing off that 2020 commemorative pen, or in my lucky case, both!

Credit: WFMY

The NCSBOE also confirms Voters may bring voting guides, notes, and other materials into the voting booth. While voters are allowed to have phones or electronic devices with them while voting as long as those devices are not used to photograph or videotape a ballot or communicate with anyone via voice, text, email, or any other method.

Before You Leave, Check This Out