To help support journalists in the final stretch of election coverage, the Institute asked the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for a primer on journalists’ rights at the polls.
Jennifer Nelson, senior staff attorney running point on elections and RCFP’s hotline, and Chris Young, editorial manager, offer the following tips and resources:
“As Election Day nears, journalists are going to need to know exactly what kinds of election-related information they have a right to access — and how to get it. For the most part, journalists do have a right to access certain election information — including voter rolls, ballot counts and recounts, and more — with some limitations.
But election laws vary from state to state, so it’s important to know the ins and outs of the laws where you are working. The Reporters Committee’s Election 2024 page is a hub forinformation on access and legal rights when covering the election.
If you are reporting on one of 11 battleground states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin — the Reporters Committee has a detailed breakdown of the laws regarding access to election information in our Election Legal Guide. Journalists in other states can also check out the “Election Records” section of the Reporters Committee’s Open Government Guide. Our “Compare” feature allows you to see how the election access laws in your state stack up against others.
In Florida and Michigan, for example, ballots are public records available for inspection and copying. In Pennsylvania, however, they are not. And while journalists in Wisconsin are permitted to conduct exit polling as long as they are not disruptive to the election process, journalists in Arizona are restricted from doing so within 75 feet of a polling place.
Familiarizing yourself with these laws now can save you time and stress as you and your colleagues make sense of the election results on Nov. 5. So take a moment to review the laws in your state, and if you have a question, don’t hesitate to contact the Reporters Committee’s free Legal Hotline for help.
All of these resources can be found on our Election hub.”