In a lot of countries voting is by secret ballot so why in the US do people have their affiliation publicly registered? The point of secret ballots is to avoid harassment from political opponents, is this not a problem over there?
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>In a lot of countries voting is by secret ballot so why in the US do people have their affiliation publicly registered?
Their affiliation is only registered essentially *because* they went to public register in order to declare that registration; they’re explicitly choosing to have their affiliation be publicly known. You don’t have to do that when you sign up to vote.
The precise rules vary by state, but generally speaking your affiliation is only publicly known if you both a) register with a party and b) vote in that party’s primary elections.
The actual votes at the end of the day are still secret.
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