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Carbon says no phones at polls

Published August 17. 2018 12:10PM

If you’re planning to take a selfie in the voting booth, forget about it.

Carbon County commissioners on Thursday adopted a resolution prohibiting the use of cellphones and other electronic devices inside polling places.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne E. Nothstein is concerned about voters photographing others’ voting screens.

“You don’t want to be photographed voting. It’s a security thing, too. (This will ensure) the privacy that should be in place,” he said.

Commissioner William J. O’Gurek said Election Director Lisa Dart recently attended a conference and returned with the suggestion.

“It made sense to us that people not be in the voting polls with cellphones and things of that nature,” he said.

“There’s enough skepticism and questions about the conduct of elections that we agreed with her to do what other counties did,” O’Gurek said.

People may bring their phones with them, but may not use them.

“We just don’t want people in there using them,” he said.

Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard agreed.

Carbon’s action brings it in line with surrounding counties.

In Schuylkill County, election director Frannie Brennan has long barred the use of cellphones in polling places.

“I have had had it in my packets of instructions for judges of elections for years,” she said.

Monroe County election bureau office assistant Kathy Cesare said people may have their phones with them, but are not allowed to have them out for privacy and security reasons.

“Anybody could take a picture of somebody’s signature or address,” she said.

Poll workers are advised to inform voters of the rule.

But there’s a limit on how the rule can be enforced.

“It’s out of everybody’s control if someone takes a selfie behind the curtain,” Cesare said.

Voting booth “selfies” are barred in Lehigh and Northampton counties.

The rules vary by county, but the Pennsylvania Department of State advises voters to wait until they leave the polling place to post voting selfies on social media.

Comments
That is forking retarded. Is this really what these people get paid to do? They should go buy more property for 3 million then try to sell it for a fraction of that. MORONS

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