Why wives want to keep the secret ballot

[marmar]

The big question touching a nerve this election: "Can my husband find out who I am voting for?"
November may come down to a battle between controlling men and women who just want their freedom

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published August 14, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) "an my husband find out who I am voting for in the Presidential Election?"

Olivia Dreizen Howell, the founder of a website to help women get back on their feet after a breakup or divorce, tweeted last week, "We've been getting this question a lot," so she followed up with some facts. As the Washington Post confirmed with experts, the answer is simple: "No; it will be public record that you voted, but not how you filled out your ballot."

It's a useful reminder that secret ballots remain secret, even from nosy spouses. But that doesn't explain why the original tweet from Howell went viral, racking up over 8.5 million views and 14,000 retweets. As the comments under the post suggest, most people were envisioning a specific scenario: Thousands, perhaps millions of women, saddled with Donald Trump-voting jerks for husbands, who yearn to give their vote to Vice President Kamala Harris this November. "I think 'secret voting' by MAGA partners is a more widespread issue than most people think," one woman replied. Another man wrote, "As a poll worker, I have had to deal with husbands and fathers who want to join their wives or daughters in the voting booth to 'make sure they vote the right way.'"

....(snip)....

The image of a downtrodden wife rebelling against her MAGA husband by voting for Harris resonates for symbolic reasons. Harris has only been the Democratic nominee for a few weeks, yet this election feels more shaped by questions of gender and power than any in the nation's history. The GOP ticket is led by a sexual predator who a jury found "'raped' [journalist E. Jean Carroll] as many people commonly understand the word 'rape,'" the judge in the case wrote. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, has called for a national abortion ban, wrote the forward to a book that denounced contraception for making pregnancy "seem like an optional and not natural result of having sex," and repeatedly called women who haven't given birth "sociopathic" and "childless cat ladies."

....(snip)....

As Lyz Lenz, author of "This American Ex-Wife: How I Ended My Marriage and Started My Life," explained to Salon, "Voting is personal, especially because Republicans want to pass laws that control your personal life ... And this is hitting us in our homes and our relationships." ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/08/14/can-my-husband-find-out-i-am-voting-for-the-big-question-touching-a-nerve-this/