Susan Hogarth holds up a phone showing her “ballot selfie” (FIRE/Shutter by Nitish LLC).
A North Carolina woman filed a federal lawsuit to challenge her state’s ban on “ballot selfies” after she was threatened with criminal prosecution for sharing a photo of herself in a voting booth on social media.
Susan Hogarth is candidate for North Carolina State Senate as a member of the Libertarian Party. Hogarth took a photo of herself in March 2024 in the voting booth during the state’s primary elections. She then shared her “ballot selfie” on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, along with the caption decrying laws against
(1) Laws against #ballotselfie are bulls—. (2) I guess this is my endorsement for @ChaseForLiberty and @FireTheUniparty pic.twitter.com/vCGxcQsHsa
— susanhogarth (@susanhogarth) March 5, 2024
Days later, Hogarth received a letter from the State Board of Elections demanding that she take down the photo and threatening that she would be prosecuted for a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Under North Carolina state law, “No person shall photograph, videotape, or otherwise record the image of a voted official ballot for any purpose not otherwise permitted under law.”
On Aug. 22, Hogarth sued the North Carolina Board of Elections in federal district court to challenge the statute as a violation of the First Amendment.
In the complaint, Hogarth said she does not intend to take down her March 5, 2024, post, which has now been viewed thousands of times, and that she intends to take and post more ballot selfies in future elections. Hogarth asserted that the law banning photos in voting booths runs afoul of the First Amendment in that it is a content-based restriction on free speech that is not narrowly tailored to a compelling state interest.
Hogarth asserted in the filing that 31 states now allow ballot selfies, and commented that such photos “have taken on a special communicative value” in that they express both support for a candidate and support for the general process of voting.
In a February 2020 statement, the North Carolina elections board specifically addressed ballot selfies and reminded voters not to photograph themselves.
“We understand wanting to photograph yourself voting, especially with the popularity of selfies,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections at the time. “However, there are legal ways to display your voting pride, such as wearing your ‘I Voted’ sticker or taking a picture outside of the precinct.”
The statement went on to explain that, “[p]hotographing 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.”
Hogarth argued in her filing that prohibitions against ballot selfies have “no connection to vote buying,” and a blanket ban is too broad to pass constitutional muster.
She not only asked that the law be struck down on constitutional grounds, but also that the court hold a hearing to issue a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the law while the case progresses through litigation.
In her complaint, Hogarth noted that taking the photo took approximately 45 seconds, and did not delay any other voters’ access to the voting booth. She also stated that no poll worker or anyone else present at the polls commented about her photography or attempted to stop her from taking the photo.
Advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) represents Hogarth in the case. In a statement it said that current research shows that roughly 1 in 10 American adults — more than 20 million nationwide — have taken a ballot selfie at some point.
In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit striking down a similar ballot selfie ban in New Hampshire. The ACLU praised the decision as a “victory for the First Amendment.”
“I won’t be bullied over such an innocent and wholesome impulse as sharing enthusiasm for my candidates,” said Hogarth in a statement Tuesday. “These ballot selfie bans may seem harmless, but they’re just one more way the state attempts to control and muzzle true self-expression while pretending to protect it.”
The North Carolina State Board of Elections declined to comment on pending litigation.
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