'Uncommitted' Vote May Be a Factor in 7 States

In at least seven states voting on Super Tuesday, President Biden's main rival in Democratic primaries could be the same option that won two delegates in Michigan with more than 100,000 votes: "Uncommitted." Organizers with the Listen to Michigan group that pushed for the protest vote in Michigan says the option could be a popular choice in Massachusetts and Minnesota on Tuesday, CBS News reports. Democratic ballots in Alabama, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont also have an "uncommitted" line or write-in slot, Axios reports.

• Organizers are urging people to vote "uncommitted" to protest Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war. "This will be another protest vote against Biden with the aim of stopping the war," Jaylani Hussein, co-chair of the Abandon Biden movement in Minnesota, tells Reuters. Hussein says organizers hope the option will get at least 10,000 votes in the state.

• Listen to Michigan says groups pushing for "uncommitted" votes are calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, along with more humanitarian aid from the US and an end to "unconditional weapons funding of Israel." Vice President Kamala Harris called for a six-week ceasefire on Sunday, and while organizers said it didn't go far enough, they welcomed the "tone shift, CBS reports.
• It's not clear how many "uncommitted" voters will also shun Biden in the general election. Massachusetts voter Aliza Hoover tells the AP that she voted "no preference" as a statement on Biden's approach to Israel but her vote in November might be different. "I think a vote of no preference right now is a statement to make yourself a single-issue voter, and at the moment the fact that my tax dollars are funding a genocide does make me a single-issue voter," the 29-year-old says. A Michigan exit poll from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, however, found that 40% of Muslim Americans plan to choose a third-party candidate in November.
• Groups are also pushing for "uncommitted" votes in Democratic primaries in Georgia and Washington state next week. "Listen to Michigan was an inspiration to a lot of movements across the country," Rami Al-Kabra, a city councilman in Bothell, Washington, tells the New York Times. "This is an antiwar effort. It was not our first choice, but we have to let President Biden know that our votes are not to be taken for granted."

(More Super Tuesday stories.)