Activists in Northeast Ohio are encouraging voters to leave Democratic ballots blank when voting for president in Tuesday’s primary, as the movement opposing President Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas War continues across the country.
The goal, activists say, is to pressure Biden to call for a cease-fire in the war.
Organizers have been protesting around Northeast Ohio for months, including regular protests at Cleveland City Council meetings and recently a caravan protest impeded traffic near Cleveland-Hopkins Airport.
The “Leave it Blank” campaign organizers said they are encouraging voters to leave the presidential section blank on Democratic primary ballots.
Biden won the primary in states where similar campaigns took place such as Hawaii, Georgia and Michigan, but efforts to send a political message via the ballot box have garnered attention. In Michigan, more than 101,000 voters voted “uncommitted," taking two delegates away from Biden.
“We are trying to be as clear as humanly possible that we want a cease-fire,” said Shereen Naser, a member of the grassroots group the Cleveland Palestine Advocacy Community. “Every day we don’t get it, more and more Palestinians are being slaughtered and starved to death, the majority of them being women and children.”
About 85,000 of Ohio's more than 11.7 million residents are Arabs, according to 2022 Census estimates.
The movement, initially primarily organized by younger Arab Americans and Muslim organizers, in other states like Michigan has energized young voters and progressives. On Super Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of voters across the country cast their ballots for no candidate in Democratic primaries.
Naser believes many people who support Palestinians and a cease-fire will vote similarly or vote third party in the November general election if Biden still hasn’t called for a cease-fire, even if it means likely Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump wins the election, she said.
“We’re tired of being told we have to choose between the lesser of two evils, whether it’s a president like Trump, who is ruining the Arab community by saying things like the Muslim ban, which was super Islamophobic, or it’s this president who is allowing and complicit in an ongoing genocide of our people,” Naser said.
In January the International Court of Justice found it "plausible" that Israel has committed acts that violate the Genocide Convention. Israel's prime minister said the country has the right to defend itself.
Political analyst Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said he’s not convinced this effort will make a big difference in winning Ohio in November where Trump is favored to win, but he said it could help send a message to Democratic politicians nationally.
“Sometimes when an issue emerges and it splits your party and it doesn’t split the other party, that’s when you can get in trouble,” Kondik said. "That’s the problem Democrats have with Gaza.
Ohio’s primary election is March 19. Polls open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
