While smartphones have equipped people to take and share selfies virtually anywhere in the world with a Wi-Fi connection, a big legal debate has emerged over whether or not selfie-lovers should be permitted to take photos inside of a voting booth and then share the pics on social media.

On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a complaint challenging the constitutionality of a new Indiana state law that explicitly bans voters from taking photographs in a voting booth. As a result of the law, an excited first-time voter could face felony charges for sharing pictures commonly known as "ballot selfies" on social media.

According to the ACLU suit, Indiana Code 3-11-8-17.5 restricts people from expressing their First Amendment right to free speech.

"Taking a picture of one's ballot and sharing it with family and friends is an expression of pride and enthusiasm about voting, and is a form of political speech that must be protected," said ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk, reports Jurist.

However, supporters of the ban say the public display of marked ballots is not a constitutionally protected form of speech and political expression. Rather, they argue that the laws against displaying ballots are necessary to stop vote-buying.

Back when voter secrecy laws were passed over a century ago, it was a commonplace practice for voters to use a public ballot as proof they had voted a particular way, either out of intimidation or incentive. As a result, reformers instituted a secret ballot in an effort to block loopholes.

"Without the ballot selfie ban, we could see the reemergence of the buying and selling of votes -- and even potential coercion from employers, union bosses and others," election law expert Richard Hasen wrote in an opinion piece published by Reuters.

Earlier this month, a federal judge struck down a New Hampshire law that explicitly banned ballot selfies. In the ruling, the judge stated that the ban was an infringement on free speech.

However, Gilles Bissonnette, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, notes that several other states have laws to protect voter secrecy that could also be construed to ban ballot photos.

"The best way to combat vote buying and coercion is to investigate and prosecute cases of vote buying and coercion," Bissonnette said, according to the New York Times.