Important new paper from Rebecca Green, forthcoming in the Wake Forest L. Rev. Here is the abstract

For most of this country’s history we have relied on human eyes and ears to oversee our systems of elections. Modern surveillance tools, from cell phones to video streaming platforms, are now cheap and ubiquitous. Technology holds great promise to increase election transparency. But the 2020 election confirmed what has become quite clear: the use of technology to record election processes does not always serve the goal of reassuring the public of the integrity of elections; it may do the opposite. As legislatures around the country reexamine the rules governing elections, an underexplored question is whether election surveillance should be promoted or prohibited. Important questions like when, if ever, observers and voters should be allowed to record during elections remain unanswered. Who (and what) are the targets of such surveillance and what harms and benefits result? Should states prohibit or encourage election surveillance? How can election surveillance—including election surveillance conducted by election officials—improve public confidence in election outcomes and reduce rather than stoke misinformation? As historic levels of public mistrust of election outcomes threaten American democracy, Election Surveillance takes up these urgent questions.