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Michigan ban on ballot selfies will stand during election

Posted at 3:37 PM, Nov 05, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-05 15:37:10-04

DETROIT (AP) — The fight over selfies at Michigan voting booths appears to be over for now.

A federal appeals court said Thursday it won’t revisit the decision of one of its three-judge panels.

A federal judge in Grand Rapids had signed an injunction suspending Michigan’s ban on ballot photos. But in a 2-1 decision, the order was set aside by the appeals court last week.

The challenge to Michigan’s ban isn’t dead. Butthe lawsuit by Joel Crookston of Portage won’t be fully litigated until after the election.

Crookston argues that the ban on photos violates the First Amendment. The state says voters are free to declare their political preferences to the world — if they do it away from a polling place. The state says it’s trying to avoid “chaos.”