Wives 'rebelling' against 'MAGA husbands' want to make sure their ballots remain secret

14 August 2024

The United States has had its share of famous political couples who were known for their very different views: GOP strategist Mary Matalin and Democratic strategist James Carville, and Donald Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway and Never Trump attorney George Conway (who are now divorced).

Carville has said that him and Matalin have long since agreed to disagree. And the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," liberal Mika Brzezinski and her Never Trump husband Joe Scarborough (a former GOP congressman), famously have a mutual disdain for Trump despite their various on-air policy disagreements.

But in an article published on August 14, Salon's Amanda Marcotte examines a possibility: "MAGA husbands" who would like to order their wives to vote for Trump — whether they want to or not.

Marcotte notes that on August 7, Olivia Dreizen Howell — who founded the Fresh Starts Registry, a website that helps women out after divorces or breakups — tweeted that she has been hearing the following question a lot recently: "Can my husband find out who I am voting for in the Presidential Election?"

Four days later, the Washington Post's Tatum Hunter answered that question, saying, "No. It will be public record that you voted, but not how you filled out your ballot."

Marcotte observes, "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."

In response to Howell's tweet, poll worker Jonathan Nori posted, "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.'"

Nori added that when that happens, he tells them, "I'm sorry sir, but the law guarantees the right to privacy for every voter. You may wait on this side of the registration tables, or at the exit."

Marcotte observes that "the image of a downtrodden wife rebelling against her MAGA husband by voting for Harris resonates for symbolic reasons." But she also writes that "truthfully, I doubt many women want to vote for Harris and hide it from their husbands."

"Voting behavior, marriage, and identity don't work like that," Marcotte explains. "People tend to be married to people they agree with politically. Even when women do become more Republican to conform to a husband's expectations, they often do so more to reduce cognitive dissonance and not because they feel forced…. Still, the picture of a wife thumbing her nose at her MAGA husband by voting for Harris is arresting. It reflects a larger sense among liberal women that they're standing up for themselves and their freedom in the face of men who want to take it all away."

Amanda Marcotte's full article for Salon is available at this link.

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