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by daemoens 1317 days ago
I can't think of anyway on the spot of how this could be abused. They still don't know who you voted for, just that you voted. Are there any common abuses of this data?
2 comments

Some of us don’t want to support any of the people on the ballot.

Being forced to write down support for an entity that you don’t want is a psychological hack.

Now you can’t just tell the “vote or die people” that you already voted to get them off your back.

Isn't it possible to put an empty ballot?

We use envelopes here to hide the ballot from the people in charge of the voting slot. We can put an empty envelope, or with ballots of two different parties that make it void, or with a nasty letter about the policianos, or like in Brazil where they "elected" a rhino for major https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacareco

Yes, you can definitely cast an empty ballot (at least in New York).
Just don’t enroll in a political party. Political people want to turn out votes for them.

In states with a closed primary that has some blowback. Where I grew up, the Republican primary was the election. Where I live now, the Democratic primary is the election - the only GOP candidates are clowns with no organization.

I haven't enrolled in a party and I get probably 6-12 a day now (from both sides).
You can just spoil your ballot.
Sold to ad tech agencies who can match it with whatever other information about you they already have. It's a binary yes, no, so maybe abuse is too strong a word. There's limited use.