Just back from voting in Colorado: No cameras allowed.

[InternalDialogue]

The poll worker managing the line just before getting to the screens notified all of us in line that cameras in the voting area were not allowed. I didn't have one with me, and in my district it's not likely to be an issue (no Senate vote, unopposed Representative), but other Colorado voters in more competitive districts may be thinking of having a camera.

The poll worker didn't cite state law for the rule, I didn't question her. Does someone familiar with Colorado law know more?

Side note that presents a technicality for argument: As I stood in line, Senator Salazar was casting his votes at a screen a few feet away. In front of him, documenting the moment... a newspaper photographer, with camera. I guess some cameras are allowed.

[Oreo]

1. That's pretty funny

The press can take a picture of somebody voting but you can't take a picture of your own vote.

What district are you in? How big of a line was it?

I found my voting machine to be pretty foolproof in the 6th. You choose your candidate, you can review it on the screen and you can have it print out your choices if you want (which for some strange reason you can't take with you)

[InternalDialogue]

5. I'm in state district 1, city council district 33

The line was about 20 people when I arrived. They had around 25 machines in use, and they seemed to cycle two or three people per minute. I didn't see a lot of cheat sheets, but from the way the machines were being turned, most people were moving through the ballot pretty quickly. Eleven pages to work through in Denver.

The paper ballot for verification was clear, though as someone noted in another thread, the verification screen and paper verification omitted party affiliation.

[InternalDialogue]

8. I'm no expert, but maybe this is the statute:

1-13-712. Disclosing or identifying vote.

(1) Except as provided in section 1-7-108, no voter shall show his ballot after it is prepared for voting to any person in such a way as to reveal its contents. No voter shall place any mark upon his ballot by means of which it can be identified as the one voted by him, and no other mark shall be placed on the ballot by any person to identify it after it has been prepared for voting.

(2) No person shall endeavor to induce any voter to show how he marked his ballot.

(3) 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.

(4) Any person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided in section 1-13-111.

In this case, I guess a news photographer standing opposite the voter would have no opportunity to disclose the vote. Anyone else with a camera? Maybe that's the rub: if you take a shot of your vote screen, what other purpose than to disclose it to someone? Maybe that's the reason for not being able to take the paper receipt with you as well.

[Ms. Toad]

9. It's not a strange reason,

but one designed to thwart election fraud. One of the oldest forms of election fraud is vote buying (or vote coercion by employers with the power of the paycheck).

Most (if not all) jurisdictions prohibit taking anything from the polling place which can be used to prove how you actually voted, making it less likely that anyone would be inclined to pay for it. If there are laws related to cameras (and I have not checked), they probably serve a similar purpose.

[whistle]

2. It is the newly adopted republican fascist laws based on the Third Reich

[hlthe2b]

3. Where did you go to vote?

It looks like you are in Denver.... I'm still debating going into early vote, or dropping my absentee ballot application by (deadline for dropping it in person is Nove 3) and I guess they process it immediately and give you the ballot...

[InternalDialogue]

6. I voted at the Webb building downtown.

I was considering applying for an absentee, since the deadline was so late and gave us so much time, but I wanted to see the new machines in action, find out how the city handled things. Of course, there's no congressional drama in Denver, and I feel confident about Ritter's run for governor, so I could afford to wonder how well the votes would actually be counted. Had this been a presidential or senatorial election, I would have looked hard and long at voting absentee.

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. Did you ask which party the poll worker represented?

In most states, poll workers are chosen by or selected to represent the major parties; in Washington, all of the major parties must, by law, be represented at each and every polling place. And (in Washington, at least) they are required to tell you which party they are representing.

It might be interesting to see what a Democratic poll worker has to say.

[InternalDialogue]

7. I didn't.

Two or three voters in line actually took pictures of the senator as he voted; I think that's what spurred the worker to announce the rule. And by the time we neared the voting area, those people had put their cameras away.

I'm going to go take a spin through the secretary of state's site and see if I can find some citation in the election law, just for the record.