NOV 6 — Of all the news coming out of the US election, that one about the pro-Harris ad reminding wives that their votes are secret struck me as both weird and funny.
I mean, if there’s any event which best exemplifies “pushing on an open door” it has to be secret-ballot voting – since when are spouses obligated to inform each other who they’re voting for? Is this some American custom or more I haven’t heard about?
I bounced the question off a few friends. Practically all of them said, “Hey, not my business who my hubs or wife votes for.”
Sure, spouses do of course discuss their voting preferences and maybe even ask each other which box they marked.
One could even argue that a couple’s compatibility depends, to some extent, on some baseline agreement with regards to politics and values.
But in the last resort, it remains a surprise to me that this issue hit a nerve in the US.
Trump and Fox News clearly seem to believe that spouses should and must be transparent about who they’re voting for, with one conservative commentator even suggesting that a spouse secretly voting for Kamala Harris would be akin to having an affair.
Again, framed positively, this could just mean that conservatives consider politics as an almost sacred duty and picking the right candidate shouldn’t be something “secretive” because the couple should be in perfect alignment about their own values and thus the choice of the right candidate.
And in case we think this is only something the Trump camp cares about, try imagining it the other way: What if the husband (or wife) in a usually Democrat-voting area “secretly” votes for Donald Trump?
Obviously the Harris/Waltz camp won’t be pleased with that, but I guess the question is whether the Democrats hold less strongly to the “spouses must vote the same” principle as Republicans.
Zooming out, perhaps this scenario is another sad example of how far politics has unnecessarily encroached beyond its sphere.
I’m one of those who believes that our vote matters (duh) but I also believe that a line should be drawn when it comes to politics, elections and so on.
Whilst I generally don’t resonate with the Trump or conservative camp that spouses simply must or should vote the same way, I also suspect that the Harris/Waltz camp’s strategy of ‘weaponising’ the secret ballot also crosses a line.
One might even ask whoever came out with the pro-Harris ad why they feel conservative women (and not liberal ones) need to be reminded that the ballot is secret.
Alas, I can only hope that politics doesn’t end up like love and war — where all, unfortunately, is fair.
