Several of California’s largest counties have rolled out Election Day media policies that press advocates say overstep state law and threaten First Amendment protections for journalists covering the polls.
A coalition of news organizations, spearheaded by CalMatters, along with the First Amendment Coalition, sent a formal letter to Kern County officials outlining their concerns. The group says similar restrictions have surfaced in other counties across the state as well.
The guidelines appear to trace back to recent directives and poll worker training materials issued by the California Secretary of State’s office, which oversees statewide election procedures. Those materials bar electioneering — attempts to sway how someone votes — at polling places, and also prohibit photographing or recording voters inside, entering or leaving a polling site without their consent.
Press freedom advocates argue that as long as journalists aren’t trying to influence voters, such limits exceed what state law actually requires and may violate constitutional free press protections. Ginny LaRoe, advocacy director for the First Amendment Coalition, said the rules go further than necessary.
Dedee Verdin, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office, told CalMatters Sunday evening that she was consulting with legal experts within the department and would follow up once she had more information.
The controversy began Oct. 27, when Kern County’s election office released guidelines barring media from filming within 100 feet of polling places and ballot drop boxes. That prompted the coalition’s first letter to the county registrar.
Around the same time, the First Amendment Coalition began examining state-level guidance that counties might be using as the basis for their rules. Its research found at least nine other counties — including Alameda, Los Angeles and Santa Clara — that echo the Secretary of State’s restrictions in their own local policies.
LaRoe said it ultimately falls to individual counties to make sure their rules align with both state statute and constitutional protections for reporters.
Angélica Salceda, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California — which is not part of the media coalition but shares similar concerns — said the restrictions could also discourage bystanders from documenting federal immigration enforcement activity that might occur near voting locations.
“We don’t want someone who might be reporting potentially unlawful federal law enforcement activity near a polling location to be told that they’re violating the law simply because of where they’re standing,” Salceda said. “Getting that clarifying guidance from county registrars, before those restrictions are misapplied, is very important.”
Restricting media access to footage of voters arriving at polling places runs counter to a long-standing tradition in American journalism. News crews have for decades captured images of long voting lines, interviewed residents about why they cast their ballots, and filmed elected officials voting in their own communities.
LaRoe said that while election officials work to ensure voting runs smoothly and fairly, journalists serve an equally important function as public watchdogs. “We worry that these state and local restrictions on news gathering, including photography, will impede the kind of news coverage on public accountability that serves our community,” she said.
In their initial letter to Kern County, the coalition argued the new rules were overly restrictive, especially given the current political climate, noting that the policy arrived “at an unprecedented time when the federal government is alleging election fraud and Governor (Gavin) Newsom is sending election attorneys to monitor federal poll watchers.”
Following that letter, Kern County revised its guidance on Oct. 30, stating that media outlets should stop filming voters dropping off ballots if those voters say they feel intimidated. However, the coalition pointed out in a follow-up letter that no law requires journalists to cease filming simply because someone claims discomfort at being recorded.
The updated county guidelines also mandate that all media interviews take place at least 25 feet from a polling site entrance, citing a specific state statute. But the coalition noted that the cited law applies only to exit polling, not to general interviews about topics like wait times or voting logistics.
With Election Day arriving Tuesday, LaRoe emphasized that journalists aren’t trying to intrude on voters’ privacy.
“But the act of going out in public and the administration of our election by public officials is inherently public,” she said. “And that’s where we have a concern with these policies, no matter how well-intended.”
The coalition pressing for clarity includes CalMatters, the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, the First Amendment Coalition, Kern Sol News, KGET/Telemundo, KVPR/Valley Public Radio, the National Press Photographers Association, SJV Water, and the Society of Professional Journalists Central California chapter.
Original source: CalMatters
