Anyone else wonder if controlling husbands oversaw their wives' votes? [View all]
(posted as a response on another thread but then occurred to me that I haven't seen this theory discussed here .... not that I see everything that gets posted )
One drawback of paper ballots (mail in or the ones you fill in at the polls) is that it is more likely that the husband knows how his wife votes.
A controlling husband could insist that she show her filled out ballot to him before she mails it.
A controlling husband could look over her shoulder when she is filling it out at the polling place. (He isn't supposed to but I'm going to bet that many election officials won't stop that unless it is too blatant).
I can't help but wonder if this contributed to the unexpected women's vote for TSF.
To be clear, I think paper ballots are the way to go - but we should at least consider whether spousal control of the vote is a real issue. (and yes, it could go both ways - but I'm sure like DV, much more prevalent in one direction than another.) One possible mitigation would be to counsel at-risk women to be prepared to use the assistive device (like have a bout of arthritis that morning or something). Since that is a little more like a traditional booth, it would be harder for the man to peek over her shoulder unless he was specifically authorized to assist her.
Thoughts?
= new reply since forum marked as read