Go ahead, take your phone into the voting booth and snap a selfie if you’re so inclined. As long as you’re not in one of the 16 states that prohibits it, that is. 

In a five-page guideline issued to election board representatives, the Pennsylvania State Department outlined what is and is not allowed to happen at polling places across the commonwealth.

Recent court cases have determined voters have a First Amendment right to take “ballot selfies.”

The state suggests each county “adopt common sense rules” in balancing the need for order at the polls and a citizen’s right to vote, and encourages voters to wait until they leave the polling place to post a voting photo on social media. 

In addition to allowing ballot selifies, election workers are reminded that licensed gun owners have a legal right to bring a firearm into a polling place as long as the voting booth is not located in a school, courthouse or any other site where weapons are prohibited.

“This is the first time the state has issued guidelines,” said Snyder County Board of Elections Director Pat Nace, who attributed it to the zany election season that has included claims of fraud by presidential candidate Donald Trump and questions of criminal charges being lodged against a pop star for snapping a selfie in a voting booth.

Pennsylvania is one of about 21 states that do not prohibit ballot selfies, but 16 states have laws on the books banning voters from showing a marked ballot to others or recording their votes with an electronic device. Those who violate the law risk fine or even jail time.

States that have laws limiting photos inside voting booths include Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New York and North Carolina, ABC News reported in a state-by-state list of voting guidelines. 

Confusion about the law arose nationwide when singer Justin Timberlake took a picture of himself inside a Memphis, Tennessee, voting booth and posted the photograph on Instagram to encourage fans to vote. In Tennessee, anyone caught using a phone inside a polling place could be charged with a misdemeanor and face 30 days in jail and a $50 fine.

Darlis Dyer, assistant director of elections in Montour County, Pennsylvania is not surprised the state allows photos to be snapped in polling places. 

“Selfies are more popular than they were four years ago,” Dyer said.

Marcia Moore writes for the Sunbury, Penn. Daily Item.