The state Attorney General’s office has officially asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review lower court rulings striking down a New Hampshire ban on “ballot selfies.” The petition for writ of certiorari, filed two days after Christmas, comes as state legislators are considering a bill to reverse the 2014 law that prohibited a voter from taking a photo of their marked ballot and posting it online. The ban is clearly unconstitutional, as the U.S. District Court found in 2015, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed last September, said Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, R-Manchester, the prime sponsor of the bill to wipe the “ballot selfie” ban off the books.
“The idea that you cannot take a picture of your own vote in the voting booth and post it online — to me it’s mind-boggling,” he said.
The House Election Law Committee heard testimony on Vaillancourt’s bill Tuesday. He asked committee members to review the First Circuit ruling, in which a judge likened the prohibition to “burning down the house to roast the pig.”
Full Article: AG seeks high court review of rulings against ‘ballot selfie’ ban | New Hampshire.