Here's another one of those "I don't get it" things…
Last week, a judge in New Hampshire overturned a law that made it illegal to take a picture of your completed election ballot and show it to others or to post it on social media. As the New York Times explained, "The law was meant to combat vote buying and coercion, which were common before the adoption of the secret ballot." Three voters had challenged the law as a restriction of their First Amendment rights.
I don't get why this is ever illegal. I vote by absentee ballot, as do about 20% of all voters in every national election. The states of Oregon, Washington, and Colorado conduct their voting entirely by mail.
Now, let's say you either bribe me or threaten me to cast my vote a certain way. I'm not sure this is really a problem in this country but let's say it is. A law that prevents me from taking a photo of my completed ballot might prevent you from being able to verify that I voted as ordered or promised. But you could also threaten me or pay me to request an absentee ballot and to show it to you before I mail it in. Hell, I could just sign the ballot and hand it to you to mark and mail in and no one would ever catch us.
Come to think of it, I could screw you over by showing you the ballot marked as you like, then on Election Day, I take it into my polling place and say, "I mismarked my ballot. Please void it and let me vote here now." They do that in my state and I'll bet they do it in most others.
Also come to think of it, I could do the same workaround if I go in and vote in person. You come to me before the next presidential election and offer me $100 to vote for Donald Trump. It wouldn't take that much to buy my vote especially in California. Since no Republican can possibly carry this state, I'd sell out for ten bucks.
But let's say you're dumb enough to pay cash for my vote and you say, "Take a photo of your completed ballot in the voting booth before you deposit in the ballot box. Then e-mail it to me when you get home and I'll PayPal you the money!" That's what these laws are supposed to prevent, right?
So I go in the booth, vote for Trump and take a clear picture of my ballot. Then I tell the polling place workers, "Oops! I punched the wrong hole!" They destroy my ballot and give me a new one. I vote for someone else and cast that ballot, then when I get home, I send you the photo and you send me my money.
This whole idea of preventing voters from being intimidated or bribed sounds like a crime which almost never happens…and if it did, a pretty easy one to foil. So what is it I'm not getting here?