Are Cameras Allowed In Polling Places
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I voted early on yesterday at the Johnson Co. Municipal Building and couldn't help but notice that in that location are multiple surveillance cameras pointed at the voting area. I asked an ballot official if the cameras were turned off, and he said they should exist. Are surveillance cameras in polling locations allowed to be recording while the polls are open? — Aaron, Iowa Urban center, via email.
The election worker, while no doubtfulness well-meaning, was wrong nearly the security cameras in the entrance hall of the Johnson County Administration Edifice, where early in-person voting is taking place.
"They are on," Johnson County Auditor Travis Weipert told Picayune Village in a phone interview. Weipert was sure, because he was looking at the security camera feeds as he was answering LV's questions.
"At no fourth dimension is the quality good enough that we can tell how you're voting," Weipert explained. "We can just see a confront. The cameras aren't fifty-fifty zoomed in enough that we could see what part of the ballot y'all're filling in."
The situation is much the same in Linn County, according to Linn Canton Auditor Joel Miller.
"I only went out and verified that while you tin can run into a person with the cameras, the resolution is so poor, I'm not sure nosotros'd be able to identify the person," Miller said. "You definitely tin can't meet whatsoever ballots."
"Because of its placement, the one camera nigh the booths [where early in-person voting is taking identify] has a great shot of the light fixture," he added. "If someone steals the light fixture, we might be able to identify them. Otherwise, it'due south pretty worthless."
Miller said he would look into getting the camera repositioned.
Both auditors said the camera outcome hadn't been raised earlier. Security cameras in polling places aren't addressed in Iowa lawmaking, and the Secretary of State'south office hasn't issued any guidelines on the matter to the canton auditors, who are responsible for administering elections.
A different camera upshot did come up during the 2016 election — ballot selfies. It wasn't articulate at the time if it was legal for the selfie-inclined to snap a photo while voting was legal in Iowa. Secretary of Country Paul Pate issued a statement discouraging election selfies, merely couldn't point to any specific police force prohibiting them. Since and so, the legislature clarified the situation.
Ballot selfies are legal, as long as the picture-taker isn't disrupting the voting procedure, bothering other voters or using the selfie every bit part some voter fraud scheme.
"I've always been for them. We're a college town," Weipert said. "After all, I can't come to your house and stop you from taking a selfie with an absentee ballot, so as long as you're not causing a trouble I don't see why I should terminate yous at a polling place."
Source: https://littlevillagemag.com/your-village-are-security-cameras-at-voting-sites-filming-voters-casting-ballots-is-that-legal/
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