MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Justin Timberlake’s voting selfie is inspiring legislative change.
The popstar took the photo at a polling station in Germantown last week, then posted it to Instagram. Turns out he broke a law. In Tennessee, it’s illegal to take any photos inside a polling place.
Now State Representative G. A. Hardaway is teaming up with Senator Lee Harris to repeal the law.
Both Hardaway and Harris said taking a selfie after voting is about marking a historical moment in your life while also inspiring more people to get involved in the election process.
“What’s on the books now is unconstitutional and unacceptable,’ said Hardaway.
Hardaway told WREG the selfie of Timberlake voting started a movement.
“It’s an expression. It’s citizens like Justin Timberlake, one of our highest profile citizens, wanting to say they’re active participants in the democratic process,” he said.
However we checked and Senator Lee Harris voted “for” the ban last year. We asked why he changed his mind. He told us the wording of legislation was misleading.
“In that package it was described to us as a bill that permitted cell use not prohibited cell use so the description of the bill was pretty inaccurate,” said Harris.
Also for the first time the Shelby County Election Commission is putting up a selfie station outside poll locations.
“We’ll put them into polls where our voters are younger,” said Linda Phillips Administrator of Elections for Shelby County.
The selfie stations will say “I voted. Did you?” They started going up Friday for Election Day.