Selfies in the polling booth

Selfies in the poll booth

Selfies here, selfies there, these damned selfies are everywhere, but in the polling booths!

Lots of people thought it would be a good idea to take a selfie in the polling booth but wait!! it is against the law, it may infringe on the security and integrity of the voting system, but lets be honest the politicians do that themselves. If you take a picture of yourself in the booth you are breaking the law so are the politicians doing it when they vote? How often are we subjected to images of them on the evening news casting their votes? Are they above the law and this allows them to show us every second of their trip to the booth.

If you take a picture of your ballot paper showing who you voted for it's affecting the privacy of the booth, Ah! sorry I put the mark on the paper I know who I voted for. As you may or may not know I believe in voting, just have a look here or here. Now I voted to-day and there are two elections going on, with Ireland using a PR system you get to number your ballot based on your preference first to last. This is a good system until you get handed two ballot papers one with 21 candidates and the other with 13 candidates.

I made my selections and due to the number of candidates I was tempted to take a picture to remind myself who got my lower votes, but that would be tempting fate, I will just have to leave it that I voted for the right candidate ;0)

When we leave the booth does this law still apply to us? Many times on leaving the polling station we are subjected to exit polls trying to work out who will win, if we are caught on camera telling the interviewer who we voted for can we be taken up for that?

This law dates back to a time before selfies or even digital cameras existed, so may be it has to be looked at? May be the law should realise how much society has changed in years since this law was made and consider moving with with it.