your ward doesn’t have a Republican committee on the ballot.
tbladesays
The nominees are below the fold as I thought it was unnecessary to include that in the graphic. The empty spaces on the right I guess are just extra write-in spaces.
marcus-gralysays
It seems to me (a non-lawyer) to be in violation of Chapter 56, section 25 of Massachusetts General Laws, which prohibits showing your marked ballot to other people.
Whoever, at a primary, caucus or election, places any distinguishing mark upon his ballot, or makes a false statement as to his ability to mark his ballot, or allows the marking of his ballot to be seen by any person for any purpose not authorized by law, or gives a false answer to or makes a false oath before a presiding officer, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than six months or by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.
tbladesays
allows the marking of his ballot to be seen by any person for any purpose not authorized by law
What purposes are not authorized by law? Is blog-posting your ballot not authorized by law?
I’m sure BMG could drum up $100 in donations to pay your fine if push come to shove. I’m in for a ten spot.
marcus-gralysays
As I said, I’m not a lawyer and this is certainly not legal advice. But how I would read it is that purposes authorized by law would be someone viewing your ballot in an official capacity, such as an election officer hand counting your ballot, should the machine not scan it properly.
The reason why I know about this law, by the way, is that I was considering doing something similar. (Taking a photo of my ballot and then posting it to Facebook with some silly caption like “ew, I need to take a shower”) However, I’m an election clerk, so violating election laws, even in a minor way, would be unseemly and potentially jeopardize my ability to be one in future elections, so I decided to check if it was legal to photograph your ballot before I did anything.
tbladesays
…and I hope I am not violating the law. And I appreciate the heads up.
you are not allowed to publish a picture of your own ballot. I mean, there’s nothing stopping you from TELLING us what ballot you took and how you marked it…why would an actual picture do anything further than that?
It seems that unless there is another place prohibiting one from one’s free speech in this matter, that this would be awfully hard to argue as illegal. I mean, do you have to be authorized by law to publish a picture? To post on a blog? To talk about your ballot and how you voted? Nope.
petrsays
[new] I take seriously election law…
…and I hope I am not violating the law. And I appreciate the heads up.
…. that it looks to be a law designed to discourage either electioneering and/or covert signalling in actual polling places. Perhaps it is a throwback to earlier times when machine politicians would bus illiterate and semi-literate people to the polls and ‘indicate’ to them how they are to vote by having a marked ballot from which they would copy.
Since this is an absentee ballot, I don’t think that sort of stricture applies… but if you were to take this ballot, or even a picture of it, to the polls on March 6 and wave it around, you might fall afoul of the law. Of course, I’m not a lawyer either…
marcus-gralysays
I’m assuming Santorum’s thugs didn’t show up at tblade’s door and demand he prove his loyalty to their boss by posting a picture of his ballot to BMG, but you never know…
centralmassdadsays
A poorly worded statute is the lawyer’s livelihood.
It could mean– you cannot show to marking of your ballot to any person for an illegal purpose OR
you cannot show the marking of your ballot to any person for any purpose not specifically authorized by law.
In any event, probably not enforceable against a BMG post, even if BMG is not specifically authorized by law.
Pablosays
If this is a crime, I am also guilty.
When I voted for President in 2008, I took my cell phone out of my pocket and photographed my ballot. A vote for the first African-American President of the United States, I thought it was a historic moment that I wanted to preserve.
It was absolutely no secret who I was going to vote for, and I can’t imagine why the public good is well served by applying Chapter 56, section 25 of Massachusetts General Laws to this situation.
your ward doesn’t have a Republican committee on the ballot.
The nominees are below the fold as I thought it was unnecessary to include that in the graphic. The empty spaces on the right I guess are just extra write-in spaces.
It seems to me (a non-lawyer) to be in violation of Chapter 56, section 25 of Massachusetts General Laws, which prohibits showing your marked ballot to other people.
http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVIII/Chapter56/Section25
What purposes are not authorized by law? Is blog-posting your ballot not authorized by law?
I’m sure BMG could drum up $100 in donations to pay your fine if push come to shove. I’m in for a ten spot.
As I said, I’m not a lawyer and this is certainly not legal advice. But how I would read it is that purposes authorized by law would be someone viewing your ballot in an official capacity, such as an election officer hand counting your ballot, should the machine not scan it properly.
The reason why I know about this law, by the way, is that I was considering doing something similar. (Taking a photo of my ballot and then posting it to Facebook with some silly caption like “ew, I need to take a shower”) However, I’m an election clerk, so violating election laws, even in a minor way, would be unseemly and potentially jeopardize my ability to be one in future elections, so I decided to check if it was legal to photograph your ballot before I did anything.
…and I hope I am not violating the law. And I appreciate the heads up.
you are not allowed to publish a picture of your own ballot. I mean, there’s nothing stopping you from TELLING us what ballot you took and how you marked it…why would an actual picture do anything further than that?
It seems that unless there is another place prohibiting one from one’s free speech in this matter, that this would be awfully hard to argue as illegal. I mean, do you have to be authorized by law to publish a picture? To post on a blog? To talk about your ballot and how you voted? Nope.
…. that it looks to be a law designed to discourage either electioneering and/or covert signalling in actual polling places. Perhaps it is a throwback to earlier times when machine politicians would bus illiterate and semi-literate people to the polls and ‘indicate’ to them how they are to vote by having a marked ballot from which they would copy.
Since this is an absentee ballot, I don’t think that sort of stricture applies… but if you were to take this ballot, or even a picture of it, to the polls on March 6 and wave it around, you might fall afoul of the law. Of course, I’m not a lawyer either…
I’m assuming Santorum’s thugs didn’t show up at tblade’s door and demand he prove his loyalty to their boss by posting a picture of his ballot to BMG, but you never know…
A poorly worded statute is the lawyer’s livelihood.
It could mean– you cannot show to marking of your ballot to any person for an illegal purpose OR
you cannot show the marking of your ballot to any person for any purpose not specifically authorized by law.
In any event, probably not enforceable against a BMG post, even if BMG is not specifically authorized by law.
If this is a crime, I am also guilty.
When I voted for President in 2008, I took my cell phone out of my pocket and photographed my ballot. A vote for the first African-American President of the United States, I thought it was a historic moment that I wanted to preserve.
It was absolutely no secret who I was going to vote for, and I can’t imagine why the public good is well served by applying Chapter 56, section 25 of Massachusetts General Laws to this situation.