Understanding your legal rights, from election records to polling places and protests

As we learned from IWMF over the past two weeks, journalists covering elections and related protests must take important steps to protect themselves from physical and digital harm. But in order to safely and effectively report on the upcoming elections, journalists must also take the time to understand their legal rights. In this week’s newsletter, we’ll equip you with the essential legal knowledge you need so that you can avoid arrest, access information and, ultimately, produce meaningful stories that will inform voters and our democracy.

We’ll break this article into two sections: legal safety at protests and accessing election-related information. While we can’t cover every legal issue you might encounter in this space, you can find much more detailed guidance in the Reporters Committee’s free legal resources, including our Police, Protesters and the Press guide and our Election Legal Guide, available in English and Spanish. You can also contact the Reporters Committee’s free legal hotline to speak with one of our attorneys.

Gathering the news and avoiding arrest at protests

Let’s start this legal crash course with an important point: Generally speaking, journalists are subject to the same laws as everyone else. You may not have special rights of access as a member of the news media, but you cannot be denied access that is provided to the general public.

If you are complying with the law, police officers may not target you to prevent you from exercising your First Amendment right to observe, photograph and record in public places. While journalists can be arrested for trespassing or disobeying a valid order to disperse, law enforcement officers may not arrest you in retaliation for coverage they perceive as critical or to prevent you from reporting on a public demonstration.

Here are some other important tips to keep in mind before you head out to cover the next protest this election season:

• As IWMF mentioned in the first installment of this series, find a local criminal attorney who will be available during the protest and make sure you have their number with you when you start reporting. Your news outlet may be able to help you identify a lawyer, or you can call the Reporters Committee’s free legal hotline (1-800-336-4243) if you have been arrested or face imminent threat of arrest.
• During the protest, make sure you follow all dispersal orders and other police directives. You can be arrested for ignoring them.
• Always pay close attention to your surroundings. Keeping your head on a swivel can help you avoid inadvertently trespassing onto private property, and identify if police start rounding up protesters — a tactic known as “kettling.”
• Unless you are arrested, you do not have to consent if a police officer asks to search or seize your equipment.
• If you are arrested, make clear you are a journalist, and let the officers know that you are carrying notes and newsgathering materials. Police may take your belongings and inventory them, but you do not have to consent to a search of your property. If you are reporting with a colleague, you can ask that person to take your work products and equipment. And be sure to contact your attorney and editor, or the Reporters Committee’s free legal hotline, as soon as possible.

Accessing election-related information

As Election Day nears, journalists are also 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. 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 in November. 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.

About the Reporters Committee: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press provides pro bono legal representation, amicus curiae support, and other legal resources to protect First Amendment freedoms and the newsgathering rights of journalists. For updates on our free resources and work, sign up for our newsletter at rcfp.org/subscribe.