Posting Photo of Ballot Online Could Be A Crime

By Suzanne Choney, NBC News

Credit: Instagram

A person who voted for Romney shares their ballot on Instagram Tuesday.

November 7, 2012 Updated Nov 7, 2012 at 11:28 AM PDT

No matter how enthusiastic you are about your candidate or your right to vote, before you put a photo of your ballot online, check to make sure what you're doing is not illegal.

That's right; illegal. That means tweeting a photo of your ballot, showing it on Instagram or Facebook or on other sites could lead to your being prosecuted. That hasn't stopped scads of voters from doing it anyway Tuesday.

The Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society posted a chart showing how all 50 states handle this kind of activity, as outdated as it may seem in the age of social media and oversharing.

"We did not publish this information to discourage anyone from trying to exercise their First Amendment rights," Jeff Hermes, attorney and director of the Citizen Media Law Project, told NBC News.

"But there are special rules that apply in the very unique environment of the polling place, and activities that are generally allowed elsewhere, even involving political speech, run into special limitations when you're talking about voting."

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