Photos at the polls

[houseofdixon]

Does anyone know the laws/regulations on taking photos at the polls? I took my little point and shoot, and when I got there while standing in line i took it out and got some weird looks from people around me, so I just put it back in my pocket...

I was hoping someone out there knows how this should work, and if i should've just taken a few photos as this election the polls around me were very busy even at 7am today...Seems like a historic occasion as far as turnout is concerned.

Also, If anyone has interesting shots of voting today I'd like to see it...

[TonyL]

Does anyone know the laws/regulations on taking photos at the polls? I took my little point and shoot, and when I got there while standing in line i took it out and got some weird looks from people around me, so I just put it back in my pocket...

I was hoping someone out there knows how this should work, and if i should've just taken a few photos as this election the polls around me were very busy even at 7am today...Seems like a historic occasion as far as turnout is concerned.

Also, If anyone has interesting shots of voting today I'd like to see it...
I had my camera with me and was going to shoot some for the local paper, but decided against it. There were some interesting shots too with people in lawn chairs, blankets, etc. Kind of like when the new playstation 3 hit shelves and people were camping out.

[rutt]

On news stories, neither permissions nor relases are needed except when photographs are used to advertise commercial products. Pictures of houses or buildings can be published without consent of the owner, but if a man objects to your taking a picture of his property, he can order you and your camera off it -- that's trespassing -- but he cannot stop you from taking a picture providing you are standing on the street or sidewalk which is public property and belongs to everyone.


In case you don't know, Weegee (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25932) was the great New York photojournalist and street photographer of the 40s and early 50s. he should have known.

[jdryan3]

Seems to me that typical public space laws would apply( ie shooting people from the sidewalk/ street). The issue would be inside shots since even 'publicly owned sapces' are not truly public space for those purposes.