If you tweeted a picture of your completed ballot, you might want to delete it

If you voted in the Ontario election and broadcast a picture of your completed ballot, you could be in a lot of trouble.

Under Section 42.4 of the Ontario Elections Act, "an elector shall not display his or her ballot to any person so as to indicate how the elector has voted"

Anyone who contravenes the Act could face a fine of up $5,000.

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Elections Ontario staffers were policing this on Twitter yesterday. Anyone who did post a picture was quickly warned to remove it.

An Elections Ontario spokesperson told Yahoo Canada News that they would not publicly comment on whether or not they would be taking any further actions or investigations.

"When we do receive a complaint about a violation of the Election Act or Election Finances Act, it is reviewed by Elections Ontario and may be investigated," Andrew Willis told Yahoo in an email exchange.

"If the Chief Electoral Officer believes there may have been an apparent contravention of the law, he is required to refer the matter to the Ministry of the Attorney General. The Ministry may refer the matter to the police for investigation and prosecution. When our investigations finish, or if a matter has been referred to the Ministry, the Chief Electoral Officer reports on the investigations in his next report tabled with the Legislative Assembly."

Willis adds that, to date, no one in Ontario has ever been charged for tweeting a picture of his or her completed ballot.

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Back in October, a similar thing happened in Nova Scotia.

According to a Chronicle Herald article in October, Elections Nova Scotia announced that it was investigating at least three individuals for publishing pictures of their completed provincial election ballots on social media The cases were actually forwarded to the RCMP.

The obvious rationale behind the rules is to combat the potential of vote buying or coerced votes: imagine an individual buying a vote and asking the elector to validate the vote with a picture.

Butt Duff Conacher, founder of democracy watchdog Democracy Watch, isn't certain that the rules are just.

"I don't see any harm in doing this at any time, and no harm in posting a photo of your ballot after the polls close," he told Yahoo Canada News.

"The prohibition on posting a photo of your ballot while the polls is open makes sense because it helps prevent someone from producing a bunch of fake ballots and stuffing them in the ballot box."

What do you think? Should voters be allowed to broadcast pictures of their completed ballots?

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

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