Press Coalition Challenges California County Polling-Site Media Rules

A coalition of news organizations and press-freedom advocates—including CalMatters, the First Amendment Coalition, and the National Press Photographers Association—is warning that polling-place media guidelines adopted by at least 10 California counties could unlawfully restrict Election Day journalism on Tuesday, according to a CalMatters report published in the Mountain View Voice.

Alameda, Santa Clara, and Kern County Guidelines Scrutinized

First Amendment Coalition advocacy director Ginny LaRoe noted that the restrictions appear to stem from California Secretary of State poll-worker training materials that prohibit photographing or recording voters entering, inside, or exiting a polling place without permission. Spokesperson Dedee Verdin said Sunday night that the Secretary of State's office is reviewing the guidance with its legal experts:

• Kern County's Oct. 27 and Oct. 30 Directives: On Oct. 27, the Kern County election office barred media personnel from filming within 100 feet of poll sites and ballot drop boxes. After receiving the coalition's first protest letter, Kern County issued an updated guideline on Oct. 30 barring filming of ballot drop-offs if a voter "feels intimidated" and requiring all media interviews to take place at least 25 feet from a polling-site entrance. In a second letter, the coalition—joined by the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, Kern Sol News, KGET/Telemundo, KVPR/Valley Public Radio, SJV Water, and the Society of Professional Journalists Central California—noted that California's 25-foot statutory buffer applies only to exit polling, while ACLU of Northern California attorney Angélica Salceda warned overbroad buffer rules could also chill bystanders from documenting public conduct near polls.
• Bay Area & Statewide Reach: Beyond Kern County, the First Amendment Coalition identified at least 9 additional counties—including Alameda, Santa Clara, and Los Angeles—that repeat the Secretary of State's photography restrictions in their local rules.

Maricopa County Polling-Place Hosts Expand Electioneering Restrictions by 64%

Questions over polling-place rules are also shaping voting logistics in Arizona. As reported by Hoodline citing The Arizona Republic and Maricopa County Deputy Elections Director Jennifer Liewer, while total voting locations in Maricopa County grew 14% between 2022 and 2026, the number of voting sites barring electioneering outside Arizona's mandatory 75-foot entrance buffer jumped 64%. Nearly half of the county's polling locations are hosted at houses of worship, and about half of those church sites plan to bar campaigning in 2026 (up from roughly a third in 2022), compared with roughly 1 in 5 nonreligious locations. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—which provided 30 Arizona polling sites in 2024, according to communications director Candice Copple—bars political campaigning on its properties, while Shadow Rock United Church of Christ's Lois Beberniss, St. Peter Lutheran Church's Pastor Andre Miller, Living Word Ahwatukee's Pastor Jeff Zubeck (who changed policy after 2020), and Desert View Bible Church's Pastor Ben Rounds cited preschool security, parking, and nonpartisanship, even as Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix president Alex Zygmunt noted academic studies from 2000 and 2016 on how polling settings can influence voter behavior.