Lord Bracknell
On fire
Thank you. I think I'm safe especially as not a single person has ever been prosecuted for this "offence" inside a polling station or outside. Found this:
"Although Pt II and III of the RPA have specific provisions relating to interpretation, Pt I (containing this offence) does not. The general interpretation section does not assist either. Searching the electronic database there appears to have been a grand total of precisely zero prosecutions under the Act.
Is the law sensible? No, in a word. As to how it came about, you can see how it made sense at one point, and it is clearly designed to protect the secret ballot. I haven’t checked Hansard, but I doubt anyone would consider prosecuting somebody for revealing how they themselves have voted. I doubt that it would survive an Art 10 challenge and/or an abuse on public interest grounds.
As to how this came about, the clue is in the year of the Act – 1983. To take and communicate a selfie at that time would have involved taking in a camera, dropping the negatives off at Boots, waiting for a few days before collecting them and posting them to your “followers” – a time consuming process. As in so many areas, the internet has been a game changer and the law is playing catch up (the Law Commission is scheduled to look at Electoral Law, reporting back with recommendations next summer)."
As a former candidate in local elections, my recollection of how S.66 is applied in practice is that everyone (polling clerks, candidates and party tellers) is aware of the rules. In practice, this means that no-one is allowed to ask voters how they have voted until they have physically left the premises. What goes on outside in the street is of no concern to the polling clerks.