Ballot Law Pits Freedom of Speech vs. Potential Vote Fraud

A federal judge must decide whether a ban on posting ballot photos online is an unreasonable restriction on free speech or a needed safeguard against fraud in the information age.

From the questions he asked on Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro sounded dubious that the law was needed. He noted that vote-buying has "virtually disappeared" in the United States over the past century.

The state of New Hampshire argued that posting the photos could be the evidence a vote-buyer wants to prove the voter followed through.

Barbadoro chided the notion that a vote-seller would post the evidence publicly and said the "vast, vast, vast majority" of people who posted a photo would be innocent of wrongdoing.

The law makes publishing someone's marked ballot a violation punishable by a $1,000 fine.