In the past, I’ve written on (my friend and heroine) Caryn Ann Harlos’s challenge to Colorado’s law commanding that “[no] election official, watcher, or person shall reveal to any other person the name of any candidate for whom a voter has voted or communicate to another his opinion, belief, or impression as to how or for whom a voter has voted.”

Now (my friend and heroine) Susan Hogarth is similarly challenging North Carolina’s law mandating that “[n]o person shall photograph, videotape, or otherwise record the image of a voted official ballot for any purpose not otherwise permitted under law.”

In solidarity with those two courageous free speech activists, here’s me with my 2024 general election ballot (I voted early by mail this year as soon as I received my ballot):

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I guess this column is a lot longer than my usual 500.

“Any elector, according to Florida Statutes, Title IX, 104.20, “who, except as provided by law, allows his or her ballot to be seen by any person … is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.”

In the US, speech is protected by the First Amendment. The government doesn’t get to tell you what to say or how to say it.

Except, many state governments insist, when it comes to ballot selfies.

They say they want you to vote.

They set up mechanisms facilitating your ability to vote.

But then they turn around and say you’re a criminal if you show others how you voted.

Those state governments are wrong. They should be challenged, and their evil and unconstitutional rules banning speech should be mocked, challenged, or at the very least ignored.

“Su voto es su voz!” Willie Velasquez told Hispanic Americans as he and the organization he founded encouraged and helped millions of them to register and vote: “Your vote is your voice!”

He was right as far as he went. Whatever else voting might be, and whether or not your vote has a significant effect on an election’s outcome (it usually doesn’t), voting is speech — your expression of your preferences in elections.

If you want to keep your vote secret, fine. Freedom of speech includes the freedom to speak, to not speak, or to speak only to some (vote counters, for example) and not to others (the general public, for example).

But that’s your decision to make, not the government’s.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter:@thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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