harrassment are.

1) A "boss" is not necessarily an "owner" or "stockholder". A boss is someone who can make your life miserable/fire you. If a boss is allowed to intimidate or bully, shouldn't they also be able to feel you up, extract sexual favors, ask you for some of your paycheck, ....?
2) Suppose you work for a government. I'll use the federal government as an example. Most workers in the federal government work for the executive. The leaders of the executive at the highest levels are political appointees. If bosses were allowed to bully and intimidate the employees or to fire them because of political ideology, any change in party in power would create chaos until the "wrong thinkers" were expunged and replaced with employees of the right persuasion.

There is more than just political freedom involved when one asks if bosses should be allowed to bully and intimidate. Anyone here could continue my short list with a million more examples of why it should not be allowed.

unless the letters say you must vote a certain way or you will lose your job or ask you to report for whom you voted and possibly lose your job, etc. these likely don't arise to the level of voter intimidation.

If the letters are non-confrontational...e.g. Attention employees......we know this election is of extreme importance to our business. We have assessed the proposals from the two parties with respect to how they, if enacted into law, would impact our business. Based on that assessment we believe our business interests and, by extension, your interests as they relate to your current job and future opportunities would be better served if you voted for Mitt Romney. You are free to exercise your right to vote but we believe you have a right to understand how we, as a business, assess the potential impact of this election on our business and by extension your job and future. ....while I would vomit if I got such an e-mail from my company, is not really intimidation.

As an attorney I can tell you that every case is different. It would depend on the tone, the wording, the potential implications, etc. of the communication as to whether it is intimidation or just sleazy business practice.

we do have secret ballots and you can vote your conscience, not that of your boss.

putting a bumper sticker on your car, or a sign in your yard, or volunteering to help your candidate's campaign, if you think there might be retaliation at work. These letters are likely to have that effect. In fact, I suspect that's the real intention of these things - to make the employees afraid to publicly support the "wrong" candidate.

an employees after work activities. So, is the company going to send out spies? I don't think most people are that easily intimidated. In the end, the only thing that matters is what a person does in the voting booth.

It also matters very much that employers not be allowed to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in the workplace. They are employers, not tyrants.

easily intimidated and scared.

Nobody goes with you into the voting booth on election day. Using your right to vote matters.

If I worked for a corporation that gave me a letter that said 'vote for this guy! corporate taxes blah blah!' I would just toss it. I may not even read it past the first paragraph. There is no way for them to go with me into the voting booth. There is no way for them to find out who I voted for.

Even if they still allow corporations to give unlimited money to campaigns they ought to at least make this illegal. I mean threatening their jobs if they do not vote a certain way? WTF I have never heard of that happening before, I mean this will only be my 8th election of my life and really only the 6th I can remember, but damn.

- But, as we have secret ballots, the boss will never know who you vote for so there's no way that they can take action against anyone for voting against his/her wishes.

I can see a company telling employees how they feel an election will impact their business. IMO, that's free speech and something an employee may want to know.

Not only were political memos sent out, but also they practically demanded that employees give to the United Way. I always felt harrassed and I did stand up about the United Way stuff. I was the only person out of about 200 employees who refused to give a dime to United Way.

I wasn't fired, but I was made to feel the pressure. During the annual fund raising drive, they always made a point to harrass me.

The final outcome: This company went under and is no longer in business.

This type of activity should be illegal. People should be able to vote, worship and donate charitably in any way that they feel. Those are all private, individual matters that should NOT involve "the boss".

... in our Corporatocracy, you can bet your ass that they won't be, and IF, by some strange chance they are made illegal, it won't be enforced.

We don't even prosecute those that have destroyed most of our middle class economy, instead they get bigger bonuses.