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Uncommitted (voting option)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Uncommitted" is a voting option in some United States presidential primaries. This option is listed along with the names of individuals running for the position and is often described as "none of the above".[1] Depending on state and party thresholds, voting uncommitted may allow states to send uncommitted delegates to a party's nominating convention.[2]

Process

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In the United States, voting in a presidential primary instructs party delegates who to vote for in the nominating convention. By voting uncommitted, you simply do not give an instruction to your delegates.[3] Under Democratic National Committee rules, uncommitted receives delegates if the option receives more than 15% of the statewide vote or more than 15% of the vote in a congressional district.[4] Under Republican National Committee rules, the local rules of state Republican parties decides how and if uncommitted receives delegates.[5]

Notable campaigns

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1984: Hawaii

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See also: 1984 United States presidential election in Hawaii § Democratic caucus

After only Walter Mondale and Jesse Jackson made the ballot for the Hawaii Democratic caucus in 1984, Presidential candidate Gary Hart and Hawaii governor George Ariyoshi urged voters to vote uncommitted.[6] Uncommitted ended up winning the caucus with 63.5% of the vote, receiving 14 delegates. Mondale received 32.3% of the vote and 5 delegates. Jackson received 4.2% of the vote.[7]

2008: Michigan

[edit]
Main article: 2008 Michigan Democratic presidential primary

Federal Democratic Party rules prohibit any state, except for Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina from holding its primary before February 5, or Super Tuesday. In October 2007, the divided Michigan Legislature passed a bill to move the date of the state's presidential primaries to January 15 in an effort to increase the state's influence in the presidential candidate nominating process.[8] On October 9, 2007, following Michigan's breach of DNC rules, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, and John Edwards withdrew from the Michigan Democratic Primary ballot.[9] Dennis Kucinich unsuccessfully sought to remove his name from the ballot.[10] Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd decided to remain on the ballot.[11]

On December 10, 2007, the Michigan Democratic Party issued a press release stating that the primary would be held on January 15, 2008. The press release also urged supporters of Biden, Edwards, Obama and Richardson to vote "uncommitted" instead of writing in their preferred candidates' names.[12]

In the end, Hillary Clinton received 54.61% of the vote (328,309 votes), uncommitted received 39.61% of the vote (238,168 votes), while other candidates received 5.78% of the vote (34,742 votes).[13]

2024: Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Missouri, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Kentucky

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See also: Israel–Hamas war protest vote movements and Uncommitted National Movement

During the 2024 Michigan Democratic presidential primary, 2024 Minnesota Democratic presidential primary and 2024 Washington Democratic presidential primary, numerous activists and elected officials, including Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and House Representative Rashida Tlaib, campaigned for voters to select the uncommitted option in protest of Biden's handling of the Israel–Hamas war.[14][15] Some Armenian Americans also suggested voting uncommitted over Biden's actions involving the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.[16] In Washington, the state's largest labor union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, endorsed uncommitted.[17]

In response, the advocacy group Democratic Majority for Israel ran ads arguing that voting "uncommitted" would weaken Biden and support Donald Trump.[18] Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer stated that although she acknowledges the "pain" people feel about the war, she still encouraged people to vote for Biden because "any vote that's not cast for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term".[19]

In the end, in Michigan, Joe Biden received 81.1% of the vote (618,426 votes), uncommitted received 13.3% of the vote (101,100 votes), while other candidates received 5.7% of the vote (43,171 votes).[20] The uncommitted share exceeded that against Barack Obama in 2012, the most recent prior re-election campaign of a Democratic president (though in 2012 it was a caucus rather than a primary).[21] In Minnesota, uncommitted received an even larger share of the vote, at 18.9%, while Biden was cut short to 70.6%.[22]

Notable results since 2008

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The following lists presidential primaries since 2008 where uncommitted received more than 5% of the popular vote:

2008

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Primary Primary winner Votes Percentage of popular vote Uncommitted Delegates Reference
Michigan Democratic primary Hillary Clinton 238,168 39.61% 0 [23]
U.S. Virgin Islands Republican caucus John McCain 153 47.2% 6 [24]
Kentucky Republican primary 10,755 5.44% 0 [25]
Idaho Republican primary 8,325 6.63% 1 [26]

2012

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Primary Primary winner Votes Percentage of popular vote Uncommitted Delegates Reference
Michigan Democratic primary Barack Obama 20,833 10.69% 20 [27]
Massachusetts Democratic primary 16,075 10.87% 26 [28][29]
Tennessee Democratic primary 10,497 11.51% 9 [30]
Alabama Democratic primary 45,613 15.91% 8 [31]
Maryland Democratic primary 37,704 11.55% 3 [32]
Rhode Island Democratic primary 1,133 13.98% 8 [33]
North Carolina Democratic primary 200,810 20.77% 43 [34]
Kentucky Democratic primary 86,925 42.15% 34 [35]
Montana Democratic primary 8,306 9.46% 7 [36]
U.S. Virgin Islands Republican caucus Ron Paul 132 33.85% 0 [37]
North Carolina Republican primary Mitt Romney 50,928 5.23% 0 [38]
Kentucky Republican primary 10,357 5.88% 0 [35]
South Dakota Republican primary 2,797 5.43% 0 [39]

2016

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Primary Primary winner Votes Percentage of popular vote Uncommitted Delegates Reference
U.S. Virgin Islands Republican caucus Ted Cruz 1,063 65.3% 1 [40]
Northern Mariana Islands Democratic caucus Hillary Clinton 22 11.64% 0 [41]
Kentucky Democratic primary 24,104 5.30% 0 [42]

2020

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Primary Primary winner Votes Percentage of popular vote Uncommitted Delegates Reference
Kentucky Democratic primary Joe Biden 58,364 10.85% 2 [43]
Montana Republican primary Donald Trump 13,184 6.18% 0 [44]
New Mexico Republican primary 13,809 8.75% 0 [45]
Kentucky Republican primary 57,283 13.35% 0 [46]
Connecticut Republican primary 12,994 14.21% 0 [47]

2024

[edit]
Primary Primary winner Votes Percentage of popular vote Uncommitted Delegates Reference
Nevada Republican primary Nikki Haley 50,763 63.30% 0 [48]
Kansas Republican primary Donald Trump 4,886 5.2% 0 [49]
Nevada Democratic primary Joe Biden 7,448 5.81% 0 [50]
Michigan Democratic primary 101,436 13.21% 2 [51]
Alabama Democratic primary 11,213 6% 0 [52]
Colorado Democratic primary 43,439 8.1% 0 [53]
Massachusetts Democratic primary 58,462 9.4% 1 [54]
Minnesota Democratic primary 45,913 18.9% 11 [55]
North Carolina Democratic primary 88,021 12.7% 0 [56]
Tennessee Democratic primary 10,464 7.9% 0 [57]
Hawaii Democratic caucuses 455 29.1% 7 [58]
Democrats Abroad primary 1,136 13.2% 0 [59]
Washington Democratic primary 89,753 9.8% 2 [60]
Kansas Democratic primary 4,286 10.3% 0 [61]
Missouri Democratic primary 2,229 11.7% 3 [62]
Connecticut Democratic primary 7,492 11.5% 0 [63]
Rhode Island Democratic primary 3,732 14.9% 1 [64]
Wisconsin Democratic primary 48,162 8.3% 0 [65]
Maryland Democratic primary 63,743 9.7% 0 [66]
Kentucky Democratic primary 32,908 17.9% 8 [67]
New Jersey Democratic primary 43,758 8.9% 1 [68]

Presidential nominating contests with uncommitted options

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As of 2024, the following jurisdictions have uncommitted presidential nominating contest voting options:

  • Alabama[69]
  • American Samoa[70]
  • Colorado (Democratic primary only, as Noncommitted Delegate)[71]
  • Democrats Abroad (Democratic primary only)[72]
  • Connecticut[73]
  • Hawaii (Democratic caucuses only)[74]
  • Idaho (Democratic caucuses only)[75]
  • Iowa (Democratic party-run primary only)[76]
  • Kansas (as None of the names shown)[77]
  • Kentucky[78]
  • Maryland[73]
  • Massachusetts (as No Preference)[79]
  • Michigan[73]
  • Minnesota (Democratic primary only)[80]
  • Missouri[81]
  • Montana (as No Preference)[82]
  • Nevada (as None of these candidates)[83]
  • New Jersey (Democratic primary only)[84]
  • New Mexico (as Uncommitted delegate)[85]
  • North Carolina (as No Preference)[73]
  • Rhode Island[86]
  • Tennessee[87]
  • Texas (Republican primary only)[88]
  • U.S. Virgin Islands[73]
  • Washington (Democratic primary only)[89]
  • Wisconsin (as Uninstructed Delegation)[90]
  • Wyoming (as Undeclared)[73]

See also

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References

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  2. ^ Cullen, Margie (February 27, 2024). "What does 'uncommitted' mean in the Michigan primary?". USA Today. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  3. ^ Parr, Jackson (April 1, 2016). "Cast Your Vote: What to Know for April 5 Election". Door Country Pulse. Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
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