Top Election Official: Tough to Enforce Ballot Photo Ban

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts voters tempted to a take a selfie with their completed ballots may want to think twice.

Taking a photo of a completed ballot in a polling location is banned in Massachusetts, even if it’s your own ballot.

Despite the prohibition, the state’s top election official, Secretary William Galvin, told reporters Tuesday there’s little the state can do to prevent the practice as Election Day approaches.

Galvin says his office will discourage the photos, but can’t stop them.

The legality of a New Hampshire ban on photos of completed ballots is being weighed by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

The New Hampshire law makes publishing a voter’s marked ballot a violation punishable by a $1,000 fine. The law went into effect in September 2014.