When Kamala Harris was announced as the Democratic party’s nominee in the 2024 election, it undoubtedly sparked an immense amount of hope for women in the US. It also sparked some fear.
This fear is epitomised in Harris’ latest campaign, just days out from the election. In this campaign, women are reminded that their vote is secret. No one needs to know who they vote for. Not even their spouses.
In other words, women can vote for Harris without their Trump-adoring husbands ever finding out.
Think women’s fear about this is unfounded? Think again. A study from this year published in the Psychological Services journal found more than a quarter (26 per cent) of women in the US experienced coercive control.
It’s a similar story in Australia (23 per cent of women), where coercive control is defined as a pattern of abusive behaviours from a perpetrator over time that “creates fear and denies liberty and autonomy”.
Without a doubt, perpetrators can coercively control their partners around election time in how they vote.
Only you need to know who you vote for. Just ask Melania. pic.twitter.com/gdMyXZXYjj
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) October 28, 2024
As US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X: “This is real.”
“When I do Instagram Q&As (where people can ask me questions privately and have them publicly answered), this comes up a lot more than you’d think,” she said.
Powerful advertising campaigns from organisations like The Lincoln Project and Vote Common are targeted at women to remind them of their democratic right to vote – secretly.
The ads show women arriving at the polling booth with their husbands, agreeing to vote for “him” (Donald Trump), before making their choice for Kamala Harris.
In the voting booth, women still have the right to choose. New and important ad from @VoteCommon featuring Julia Roberts reminds women that no one will know who they voted for. Pass it on. pic.twitter.com/XALnryVPNm
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) October 28, 2024
There is also a website and a hotline for voters to go to called Vote Without Fear, if they are concerned about their vote and what is done with their vote. Featured FAQs including: “Do I have to tell anyone who I voted for?” “Can my spouse find out who I voted for in the presidential election?”
In fact, Vote Without Fear say they frequently receive this specific question: “Can my husband find out who I am voting for in the presidential election?”
It’s not just organisations that are trying to get the message across to women that voting is a secret ballot.
Hand-made signs adorn the sides of the road telling women so: “Ladies: your vote is SECRET!”
According to NBC journalist Sahil Kapur, who spoke to women at a rally in Pittsburgh, women are leaving post-it notes in public bathrooms that read: “NOBODY WILL KNOW WHO YOU VOTED FOR.”
A dear friend decided her contribution to getting Harris/Walz elected is sticky notes in public restrooms 🤣 pic.twitter.com/qzIZvMbcPk
— Michele Mleczynski 🇺🇸🦅🪷🇺🇦 🌊 (@MJMleczynski) September 27, 2024
Women are silently, secretly working against the coercion of the partners, the coercion of the Trump campaign, both in hope of a better future and in fear of being found out.
Of course, conservative men feel threatened by this: a campaign encouraging women to take agency and control over their future. Agency being the very thing Trump’s ideology aims to stamp out for women.
Jesse Watters, anchor on Fox News, compared women secretly voting for Harris to “having an affair”.
“If I found out Emma (Watters’ wife) was going to the voting booth and pulling the lever for Harris, that’s the same thing as having an affair,” he said on a segment of The Five on Fox News.
“That violates the sanctity of our marriage. What else is she keeping from me? What is she lying about?”
Fellow conservative comrade Charlie Kirk said the campaign was “repulsive”, “nauseating” and “the embodiment of the downfall of the American family”.
“Kamala Harris and her team believe that there will be millions of women that undermine their husbands and do so in a way that is not detectable in the polling,” Kirk said.
If anything, the reactions from Trump sympathisers demonstrates the need for a campaign like this. They regressively believe women owe it to their husbands to follow their lead into a future that benefits them as men, with little certainty as to the rights and freedoms of women.
The campaign comes at just the right time for women, as they prepare to head to the polls next week. Your vote is secret. And your vote is powerful. Use it wisely.