LANSING — Those who wish to take a selfie with their ballot in the upcoming presidential election might just be able to. 

U.S. District Judge Janet Neff ruled Monday that Michigan’s ban on photographing one’s own ballot violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, directly infringing upon a person’s free speech. 

Portage resident Joel Crookston, who took a selfie with his ballot during the 2012 election and posted it to social media— unaware that doing so was punishable by a $500 fine or 90 days in jail—brought a lawsuit against the state in September. 

Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson is fighting to appeal Neff’s decision to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Until then, Johnson and Attorney General Bill Schuette, whose office is representing Johnson, asked that Neff’s ruling not be implemented until after the election on Nov. 8. 

“Implementing unfamiliar, last-minute replacement procedures would jeopardize the integrity of the election,” Schuette wrote in his motion. 

However, Steve Klein, Crookston’s attorney, believes suspending Michigan’s “ballot selfie” ban would be a good thing.

“How many laws threaten to punish people for doing innocuous things,” Klein told the Detroit Free Press. “To unequivocally state who you voted for is among the most powerful forms of free speech. It’s more powerful than a yard sign because a picture is worth a thousand words.”

If the ruling from the lawsuit goes through, voters will be able to take photos inside the voting booths and post their pictures to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. 

Neff wrote in her decision that Crookston, “persuasively argues that these two laws are not properly tailored, but reach and prohibit innocent free speech by voters, who are not implicated by the state’s interest in avoiding vote buying or intimidation.”