President Biden will again face organized protest votes over his wartime support for Israel on Tuesday, when presidential primaries are held in New York and three other states.
For Biden, there is no doubt about the outcome of the election. But activists outraged by his handling of the Gaza war are calling on participants to vote “irresponsible” or leave their ballots blank to keep pressure on the president.
They are particularly focused on New York, a Democratic powerhouse that has been the epicenter of anti-war protests, including demonstrations at a star-studded Biden campaign fundraiser last week.
Unlike other states, New York does not allow participants in the primary to vote “no-commit” or write in other choices. Organizers therefore urged voters to leave their ballots blank to indicate their disapproval of Biden.
The “Leave It Blank” campaign is backed by the local Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party, an influential left-wing party in New York. But two of the president's most vocal Democratic critics of the war, Reps. Jamal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, are not pushing for war.
Anti-war activists say “dishonest” protests that began in Michigan in February are having an impact. After offering unflinching support to Israel in the aftermath of Hamas's deadly attack on October 7, Biden has stepped up his public criticism of America's allies' war strategy in recent weeks. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has also accelerated following months of Israeli shelling.
Groups are organizing similar polls in three other states that hold primaries on Tuesday. In two of those states, Connecticut and Rhode Island, key participants are given the option to vote “noncommittal” if they want to register a protest against the president. In Wisconsin, a key battleground state, people can choose a similar label of “untutored” to express their concerns.
Another development is that neither Biden nor his critics are likely aware of the scale of the protest vote that took place in New York on election night.
A spokesperson for the New York State Board of Elections said the commission typically does not report the number of blank votes cast in presidential primaries in early unofficial results because it does not affect the distribution of party delegates. Stated.
Organizers of the “Leave It Blank” campaign are threatening to sue the board to pressure it to share results more quickly. But on Monday, spokeswoman Kathleen McGrath said the board saw no reason to change its practices. He said the tally of blank votes would be made public within two weeks.
