Voters, beware: You still aren’t allowed to publish photos of your ballot

Elections Canada is not on board with voter oversharing.

In an age of Tweeting your commute, Instagramming lunch and Snapchatting whatever it is the kids post on Snapchat these days, it may seem anachronistic to prohibit people’s sharing their ballots.

But Elections Canada’s unequivocal: Secret ballot means secret from everyone, including the Internet.

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“Voters are welcome to share photos of themselves taken outside the polling place,” spokesperson Diane Benson said in an email.

Many have so far.

Visualization is based on Twitter data and should not be considered scientifically accurate. Data has been made available via a partnership with Twitter Canada.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Voters are welcome to share photos of themselves taken outside the polling place," spokesperson Diane Benson said in an email.</p><p>Many have so far.</p><p><em>Visualization is based on Twitter data and should not be considered scientifically accurate. Data has been made available via a </em><a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/2235422/global-news-partners-with-twitter-for-up-to-the-minute-updates-on-election-night/"><em>partnership with Twitter Canada</em></a><em>.</em>

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“Posting a photo of a completed ballot is a violation of the Canada Elections Act [ss. 164(2)(b)].”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Posting a photo of a completed ballot is a violation of the Canada Elections Act [ss. 164(2)(b)]."

That would be this one:

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“If an electoral worker sees a voter taking a photo in the polling place, they will ask the voter to stop taking photos in the polling place and to maintain the secrecy of the vote by not sharing a photo of a marked ballot,” Benson said.

“If Elections Canada has information about someone sharing a photo of a marked ballot, we will inform the Commissioner of Canada Elections.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If an electoral worker sees a voter taking a photo in the polling place, they will ask the voter to stop taking photos in the polling place and to maintain the secrecy of the vote by not sharing a photo of a marked ballot," Benson said.</p><p>"If Elections Canada has information about someone sharing a photo of a marked ballot, we will inform the Commissioner of Canada Elections."

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Consider yourselves warned, itchy digital shutter-fingers: No photos, periscopes, vines or gifs of your completed ballot.

And in case you think they’re all talk, this Crown agency wants you to know they are totally serious: They even made someone acknowledge the importance of voter secrecy and promise never to do it again.