The Massachusetts legislative committees that hear election law bills heard the presidential candidate tax return bill on September 6, but the committee has not moved the bill. It is SB 365. It is possible that Massachusetts legislators are waiting to see if California Governor Jerry Brown signs a similar bill. He has until October 15 to decide.

If neither the California nor Massachusetts bill become law, then no state will have passed such a law this year.

On September 28, U.S. District Court Judge P. Kevin Castel, a Bush Jr. appointee, upheld New York’s law that makes it a criminal offense for a voter to photograph his or her own voted ballot. Silberberg v Board of Elections, s.d., 16-cv-8336. Here is the opinion.

The decision says the ban is needed to prevent someone from bribing a voter to vote a particular way. The decision acknowledges the point that a voter could photograph the ballot, but not deposit it in the ballot box. Instead the voter might tell polling place officials that he or she had spoiled the ballot, and ask for a new one, which would be marked differently than the first ballot. Thus the voter could trick the person who had bribed that voter.

But, the decision says, when a voter obtains a new ballot from the polling place official, a notation is made on the sign-in register, so the person doing the bribing could later ask to see the roster for that precinct and see if the bribed voter had done that.

The decision also says that allowing voters to photograph their ballots might cause the voter to delay the process of voting, and make the people waiting in line suffer. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.