Grassroots campaigns remind U.S. women: Votes are private

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Axios

4 hours ago


Tampon boxes, bathroom mirrors and cereal boxes have become the unlikely messaging boards for a disconnected effort to remind women in the U.S. that their votes are private.

Why it matters: Voters have needed a reminder in this hyper-partisan environment that while their party affiliation can be public, their ballots are secret.

State of play: Efforts to remind voters of ballot secrecy have taken different forms: anonymous pro-Harris sticky notes in high-traffic areas spotted on social media, as NBC reported; nonpartisan campaigns; and pop-up shops on Etsy selling notes that emphasize voter privacy.

While the methods are different, the goal is the same: encourage people to vote how they want, free of social pressure from family members, spouses or peers.

Zoom out: There's some other indication these reminders are needed.

More than 70% of New Mexico voters in a 2022 University of New Mexico survey released earlier this year said they think it's possible to learn someone's vote choices.

"This is not true," the state's secretary of state Maggie Toulouse Oliver said on X in September. "Secret ballots are a cornerstone of American democracy."

HeadCount's executive director Lucille Wenegieme told Axios more prospective voters have asked about ballot secrecy this election at registration tables across the U.S. than previous cycles. HeadCount is a nonprofit that registers voters at concerts, festivals and other community events.

Voting secrecy is a "core tenet" of American elections, Wenegieme emphasized.

The questions on privacy reflect "a nebulous electorate," Wenegieme said. "Folks who due to social pressure or family dynamics might feel like they should be casting their ballot one way but might, for personal convictions, want to vote a different way."

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2024/10/26/private-vote-activism-presidential-election

[Sancho]

1. Probably should remind all Repubs that votes are private!!

There have to be many of all sexes, races, and economic scales who can't stand the orange idiot.

[durablend]

2. Well maybe it would help

If the damn commercials telling people that their friends and neighbors are snooping to see if they voted would stop. It may be public record but really is no reason to put those thoughts into people heads because that's really nobody's business either (and furthers the idea that others will know *how* you voted--even if that's not the case)