Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Don't Let Pushy Poll Workers Stop You From Photographing Your Polling Place
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 10, 2013
Modified Sep 10, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Gothamist
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 10, 2013
Modified Sep 10, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Did you try to take a sweet Instagram of your deserted polling place this morning, only to get yelled at by some overbearing Board of Elections worker? Photographer Scott Lynch did when he tried to document his sleepytime Park Slope polling place. "I was yelled at for taking photographs, and had to assert that it was totally legal to do so," Lynch tells us. "The poll workers didn't have much emotional stake in the matter, so the situation quickly de-escalated, all while an NYPD officer looked on in silence, clearly not wanting to get involved." Lynch's experience was not unique.
The past two times I've voted in Williamsburg I've gotten into a heated argument with election coordinator Jose Feliciano, who repeatedly puts his hand in front of my lens to try to stop me from shooting. Today Feliciano and I really got into it, with him asserting that I could only take photographs if I had permission from everyone who was "in focus" in the photograph.
I told him he was grossly misinformed, and Feliciano doubled down, insisting, "You can't just photograph people without their permission." Pointing to the police officers standing nearby, he added, "It's just like how you can't take photos of police without permission." Then there was a lot of us yelling at each other, which I wish I'd had the good sense to videotape.
As we've noted before, Feliciano is wrong on both counts. New York courts have repeatedly upheld citizens' right to take photographs of police, provided the photographer is not interfering with police activity. And a Board of Elections spokesman told us this morning, "Photos are absolutely permitted" in polling places. NYC Votes is even calling for "voting selfies" (hashtag them #IVoteNYC).
And at other polling places, workers have even encouraged people to take photographs. On the Upper West side, Jen Chung says she was egged on to take this meta photo of her husband photographing his ballot:
Chung says, "I had my three-year-old daughter with me, which may have charmed the bored poll workers."
Tagged
Election 2013
rights
voting
original
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .