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TagsBY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
It became somewhat of a trend this year to publicly announce that you voted on the social networks.
In fact, along with a few other celebrities, Fox News host Sean Hannity posted pictures of his election ballot on Twitter.
The problem is, that’s a misdemeanor in New York.
“I learned a big civics lesson today,” Hannity said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I always share with everybody who I vote for... so I decide I took a picture of my vote and I tweeted it out and then I heard it's not allowed. So I deleted it - Whoops! I didn't know, I really didn't, honestly.”
According to The Ticket Yahoo! News, New York Election Law 17-130 states that a voter can be charged with a misdemeanor if he:
"Shows his ballot after it is prepared for voting, to any person so as to reveal the contents, or solicits a voter to show the same." The ballot photo has since been deleted from Hannity’s Twitter account.
The International Business Times reported that 22 percent of voters posted their voting choices on Twitter and Facebook, according to a survey.
Gizmodo features a list of regulations from across the United States regarding photographing your ballot. Mediaite has photos of the Hannity ballot, straight down the conservative ticket.
Reasons for prohibiting ballot disclosure include "protecting voters from confusion and undue influence" and "preserving the integrity of its election process," said Jeff Hermes, of the Citizen Media Law Project, according to The Atlantic.
