(USNewsBreak.com) – The Primary and caucus season is well underway, with most states having already held their elections. Kansas was one of the most recent states to hold its primary, and when Democrats showed up at the polls, many of them made it abundantly clear they were unhappy with President Joe Biden. Instead of supporting the incumbent, thousands voted for “None of These Candidates.”
Kansas held its presidential primary on Tuesday, March 19. Voters, reportedly upset with the way the Biden Administration was handling the Israel-Gaza conflict, made their voices heard at the polls. Rather than vote for Biden or Marianne Williamson, the incumbent president’s only Democratic challenger, 4,346 people, or around 10.2% voters, selected “None of These Candidates.” However, Biden still walked away the projected winner, with 83.8% of the vote, or 35,621 votes as of March 21. Williamson secured 3.4%, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN) received 1.3% despite dropping out on Super Tuesday, and Jason Palmer received 1.2% of the votes.
Kansas wasn’t the only state where protestors made their voices heard. In Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington, and Michigan, the portion of the votes allocated to “uncommitted” has shown a clear trend. Many of those who joined the protest were younger voters or those in the Muslim community. For example, more than 100,000 people in Michigan selected “uncommitted.” According to The New York Times, that accounted for 79% of the votes in majority-Arab areas. Political pundits believe people are casting these votes in protest of how Biden is handling the situation in Gaza, where more than 31,000 people have died, and conflict has displaced millions.
In Illinois, no option to vote for “uncommitted” existed on ballots, so many voters wrote in “Gaza,” though pollsters didn’t detail an exact figure in the results. Biden won The Prairie State with 91.3%, securing 147 delegates.
Biden wasn’t the only candidate competing against “uncommitted” votes, either. In the Kansas primary, just under 5,000 people selected that option in the Republican primary, as well.
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