“Congratulations, then! I was wondering if your wife was eligible to vote? Does she automatically become a French citizen through marriage? If these questions are too personal, please feel free to ignore them. :O)”
Well, first of all, to make a long story short, this marriage is about to end - and I’ll stop it at that.
As far as her ability to vote is concerned, no, she did not and could not vote this time, because she is not a French citizen. French citizenship isn’t acquired automatically, it has to be asked by the foreign national, even when he/she is married to a French citizen. A French citizen’s foreign spouse can petition for French citizenship after two years of continuous life with their spouse, and the process takes a few months to be processed. Our marriage was celebrated in March, so even if she had petitioned immediately after the two years, she probably wouldn’t have been able to vote for the presidential election.