I just got back from voting for Barack in State College, PA, and I won a challenge against the local eleciton officials. I got a digital camera out to photograph my ballot, and they said "NO". I asked to make a phone call. They gave me the number to call in Harrisburg, PA and after quite a long time standing there on the phone while they consulted with lawyers, I WON! More after the jump...
An important tip: the election officials on the phone in Harrisburg asked me WHY I wanted to photograph my ballot. Well, there are two reasons: 1. I don't trust those damn electronic machines!! and 2. this is an historic, emotional even for me, to vote for a candidate I truly believe in, who will be our next president, and I wanted a souvenir of my greatest moment ever in the voting booth (yeah, this was the best - even better than voting for myself as a Dean delegate on my birthday, April 27th, in 2004!). I ONLY GAVE THEM REASON #2. I just had a hunch they would not like reason #1.
So...now it is ESTABLISHED that you are allowed to photograph your own ballot in PA! I got the legal opinion from the powers that be in Harrisburg! So, if you have yet to vote, and you will be voting with no paper trail, make A DIGITAL PHOTO TRAIL. I'm sure minds who are more adept at large-scale organization than I, can figure out how to use digital photographs in the future as a way of making a trail where there is none. For now, I'm just glad to have a record of my own vote.
I'm thrilled to have a photo of my vote for Barack Obama! I'm on the road with my laptop, and don't have the chord to download the photo yet - I'll post it back here this evening (although the Harrisburg lawyers probably wouldn't like seeing it on the internet - but it's MY vote, not theirs!!