Wisconsin is latest US state to send ‘uncommitted’ message to Biden on Gaza

More than 47,800 people cast ‘uninstructed’ votes in state primary, in latest stop of national protest movement.

Nearly 50,000 Wisconsin voters chose “uninstructed” – the state’s version of “uncommitted” – in Tuesday’s Democratic primary as part of a growing campaign in the United States where protesters are using the ballot to voice their displeasure with President Joe Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.

State elections officials announced that the uninstructed option accounted for more than 47,800 votes cast, or nearly 8.3 percent of the total, surpassing the 20,682 votes by which Biden defeated former president Donald Trump in Wisconsin in 2020.

“We more than DOUBLED our goal!” Listen to Wisconsin, the group behind the effort, wrote on Facebook. “Our elections are so close, that showing we have the margin of victory to swing this election is exactly the leverage we need to push this administration to policy change on Gaza!”

Wisconsin was also the first state supported by the Uncommitted National Movement, an umbrella campaign launched by organisers in Michigan. More than 101,000 voters in that state cast “uncommitted” votes in the Democratic primary in February in support of the protest campaign, accounting for 13 percent of the overall vote.

A week later, 45,000 voters in Minnesota cast their vote for “uncommitted”, representing 19 percent of all ballots cast in that state’s Democratic primary.