A federal judge has ruled: Your ballot selfie is legal (for now)

Denverite: This started a few weeks ago when Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey warned people against the popular practice of taking a “ballot selfie.” It’s illegal under Colorado law, ostensibly to prevent someone from buying your vote and you, in turn, offering them evidence that you did as promised.

A bunch of people sued, and a federal judge ruled late Friday that if there’s no indication any other crime is involved, then prosecutors can’t come after you for posting a ballot selfie or make you take down a photo from social media.

This isn’t a final ruling on the merits of the law. Rather, U.S. District Court Judge Christine Arguello issued an injunction that prevents prosecution solely for the act of posting a picture of your ballot.

Arguello had to balance concern for preventing voter fraud with concern for the First Amendment rights of people who want to share their ballot.

Morrissey and Attorney General Cynthia Coffman both said that no one had been prosecuted in relation to a ballot selfie without evidence of some other crime, and that ended up working against preserving the ballot selfie ban.

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