re: #55 Anymouse 🌹

I was at sea and had a federal absentee ballot. (Those do not permit you to vote in local elections where you are registered, only federal offices.) That ballot requires either a notary public (not available on aircraft carriers), or the countersignature of an officer ranked O-5 or above (basically a department head in the Navy).

It was passed down that no one could seal their ballot before it was signed, ostensibly so they could “check to see if it was really you casting the ballot.”

It was so officers could check to see how enlisted members were voting. The officer corps has always leaned heavily conservative, and you would be unsurprised to know that my DH was maintaining a list of who voted for who.

Guess how that shook out later in performance evaluations.

For an extra layer of WTF-ery on that election… does anybody remember that Carter was a Navy vet (submarines), and Reagan’s only military service was making propaganda films in WWII?