Michigan Democrats and Republicans are having their presidential primaries today

Listen to Michigan: Are Young Voters in Biden’s 2020 Democratic Primary Important? An Analysis of a Michigan Campaign for Uncommitted Votes

Listen to Michigan, a campaign started and spearheaded by predominantly younger Arab and Muslim organizers from Southeast Michigan, led a push for Democrats to vote uncommitted in the primary as a protest vote.

Biden’s biggest challenge in the Democratic primary is not another candidate. Instead, Biden could lose a significant number of votes to the “uncommitted” option on the ballot – due to a campaign in Michigan aimed at getting people to cast protest votes against Biden for his support of Israel.

According to data from the U.S. Census, there were over 300,000 Michigan people who identify as Middle Eastern or North African in 2020.

Plus, opposition to Biden’s handling of Gaza may be spreading past Arab and Muslim voters. In a New York Times/Siena Poll released in December, Biden received noticeably high disapproval on his handling of the issue from voters under 30.

In the election of the year 2024, young voters could play a big role. The highest turnout for voters under the age of 30 in any state was recorded in Michigan in the upcoming elections.

Biden’s push to vote ‘uncommitted’ to Biden in Michigan exceeds goal: “Just stop killing our families”

Abbas Alawieh, a spokesman and Democratic strategist, said that they hope that the ceasefire can be reached as soon as possible. In a statement to NPR, he added the campaign’s goal is for the president to come out in support of a permanent stop to the fighting.

“That’s the really important headline here,” said spokesperson Lexis Zeidan. There are people under this umbrella that are waiting to see if Biden makes a change. And there are people in November that have written him off, but they still have faith in the Democratic Party. I think that’s what’s important.

The campaign was trying to get more than 10,000 votes, an amount that would have made a difference in the election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

“We have led a movement that is far exceeding expectations, using the ballot box to urge America to stop killing our families,” said Listen to Michigan spokesperson and Democratic strategist Abbas Alawieh at a watch party in Dearborn, Mich. “That’s all we’re asking for. “Just stop killing our families,” he said.

They’re urging Biden to call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and stop sending U.S. aid to Israel. It comes nearly five months after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel that killed 1,200 people. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then.

Source: The push to vote ‘uncommitted’ to Biden in Michigan exceeds goal

The Activist Party in Michigan is Infatigable: Protest Votes against the Uncommitted Option on the Democratic Ballot

As of 10:15 p.m. ET, more than 30,000 votes for the uncommitted option on the Democratic ballot have been counted, according to results reported by The Associated Press. Notably, Wayne County, where a significant portion of the organizing has been, has reported less than 1% of the results.

Trump, who is coming off a big win in South Carolina, has one remaining major challenger. Even though she lost her home state by 19 percentage points, Haley will remain in the race for the GOP nomination until March 5.

The other names on the ballot are not likely to help Biden in this race. He wasn’t involved in an election contest since he only got 2% of the vote in South Carolina’s Democratic primary. And self-help author Marianne Williamson, who also appears on the ballot, suspended her presidential bid earlier this month.

Per Republican National Committee rules, only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina were allowed to hold primaries before March. The RNC rules require that the majority of delegates must be allocated by March 2nd, which is when Republicans in Michigan plan to hold a convention.

That means that only 16 out of the GOP’s 55 delegates in Michigan are up for grabs today. The state party’s convention will allocate the remaining delegates.

The Republican party is in chaos and infighting and that convention is going to be held during that time. There have been various efforts within different factions of the party to oust Michigan party chair Kristina Karamo – and replace her with Pete Hoesktra, a former congressman and former United States ambassador to the Netherlands appointed by Trump.

Karamo has refused to step down and has said only a court order would compel her to resign from her position as chair of the party. This has created a lot of confusion as the party prepares to hold a first-of-its-kind caucus in Michigan during the state convention.

While Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan has endorsed the protest vote effort, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has not. She told CNN’s State of the Union that “any vote that’s not cast for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term.” Whitmer said that a second term for Trump would be “devastating.”

It is difficult to say how many protest votes will be used in the Democratic primary, but these efforts could be a problem for Biden in the fall. Michigan is one of the key swing states and is likely to be close.

Michigan voters can vote in person on Election Day or by mail early in the day. New state laws require that people have at least nine days to vote in statewide elections.

Her office said in a statement that “over 78,000 voters voted in person at an early voting site, and more than 934,000 voters have returned their completed absentee ballot to their clerk for tabulation.”

Detroit primary arab-muslim ‘dearborn-hamtramck-detroit’: Why young Michigan voters are leading call to be ‘uncommitted’ to Biden

Although Aiyyash is the majority leader in the Michigan House of Representatives, he has lost interest in the presidential election since the war in Gaza broke out.

“We are hoping that this uncommitted movement will allow this administration to course correct and shift their policymaking and shift their strategy on the conflict in Gaza to hopefully save more lives,” he explained, “this is why we are voting uncommitted. To save lives.”

It’s a campaign that was originally created by organizers from the area near Detroit who wanted to reach out to people of Middle Eastern or North African descent.

“We’re experiencing a revolution,” said Lexis Zeidan, a 31-year-old Palestinian American organizer who is a spokeswoman for the Listen to Michigan campaign.

“You’re going to have your older generation that might still understand or believe in this two-party system,” she said. You’re also having younger voters that are trying so many different strategies and ways, and so you need to let elected officials know that we’re not settled for this anymore.”

A Mara Matta sits at a high table in the back of a cafe that she’s watching for a phone banking session for the campaign. Matta, who is 27 and Lebanese American, shies away from calls for Democrats to unite around Biden ahead of the primary.

She said that the purpose of the primaries is to set the agenda for the rest of the campaign. Reducing this to election results is dehumanizing the lives lost for the Palestinians.

“We do not want to be a part of a generation of voters who are handed off to the next one at a state of war, and that’s what we’d like to change,” said the young Democrat from Detroit.

She supports Biden’s reelection and is advocating for a ceasefire. Some of the local Muslim and Arab leaders did not meet with Biden campaign officials earlier this year.

Source: On primary day, young Michigan voters are leading call to be ‘uncommitted’ to Biden

Makayla Stevens and Paris Pittman are considering voting uncommitted due to Gaza and general discontent with Biden’s first term in office

It’s not a good idea to look at this as only affecting 200,000 voters. It goes directly to the heart of young voters, progressive voters and voters of color who will be voting in the upcoming election.

Makayla Stevens and Paris Pittman are considering voting uncommitted on Tuesday due to Gaza and general discontent with Biden’s first term in office.

Stevens, who identifies as mixed race and half Black, believes that it’s important for the community to know that they have allies.

We need to be there for each other because we have a lot of the same things. This was us,” added Pittman, who is 23 and identifies as Black.

Bianca Garcia, 26, is Jewish and Latina. She decided on her vote Tuesday. She’s voting uncommitted, but it’s a difficult choice as she looks to the general.

“I know that Trump being in office is going to be ten times worse. He has a track record unlike Biden, Biden never did anything like the Muslim ban. She said that she wanted to feel more resolved in the vote than she would if she voted for Biden.

“I’m feeling anguish over what we’ve been seeing online,” she said, standing beside her friends and child. You want to do anything you can. This is the minimum that we can do.”

She said she felt powerful. I have to watch what’s happening and have no influence on it. And this is the first time that I get to have a say.”