Dear friends,
I tend to be a little too earnest, so there are no practical jokes embedded here. You have permission to stop reading if that’s what you came for.
Last night, I got to hear some great music. Jean Rohe played a great set at The Owl. She reminded us to vote on Tuesday and to leave our ballots blank.
Did you forget about the presidential primary? It would not be hard, as it is basically a fait accompli. We know who’s going to win.
As the state’s most committed Democratic and Republican voters trudge to polls this Tuesday for Primary Day, they are voting in the shadow of that court decision, which prevented the state Board of Elections from canceling a primary with an all but certain outcome so that voters could affirm an already determined nominee.
So, why am I urging you to vote?
A series of primary votes, beginning in Michigan, has shown the strength of the movement to end US military support for Israel and demand a ceasefire. Organizers urged voters to vote uncommitted.
In Michigan, 13 percent of Democratic voters chose ‘uncommitted’, far exceeding the organizers’ expectations. The movement spread to other states. With minimal organizing, 29 percent of Dems in Hawaii voted uncommitted.
Uncommitted now has delegates who will go to the Democratic national convention – delegates who could use the organizing experience they gained so quickly to make their voices heard among their party, hopefully influencing the candidate’s platform on Gaza. Minnesota won 11 delegates, Hawaii got seven and Michigan has two.
In Georgia, without an uncommitted option, 6,500 voters answered the call to submit blank ballots. We also lack an uncommitted option, so we have the Leave It Blank NY campaign.
Since only 1% of ballots are typically submitted blank in New York elections and the presidency is the only elected office on the ballot April 2nd, submitting blank ballots is a powerful way to make visible the thousands of New Yorkers who want Biden [to] invest our hard earned tax dollars into our communities, not in sending more bombs [to kill Palestinians].
This won’t affect the number of delegates that Biden receives in our state. It will send a message.
Take the pledge to leave your ballot blank; tell friends to leave it blank; and on April 2, leave it blank.
A friend who accompanied us to the Owl last night asked me if the blank votes will even be counted. I love a good question.
The elections board has previously reported blank ballots in the unofficial election night results for the 2020 general election and the 2022 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Last week, A coalition of progressive groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace,
sent a demand letter to the commissioners of the state Board of Elections, saying it’s prepared to file a lawsuit under New York election law to force the board to report blank ballot totals in the unofficial results on primary night, should the board fail to do so.
The letter emphasizes the importance of the blank ballots as an election result that signals voters’ disapproval of the field of candidates, or in this case, of a particular policy.
Jean Rohe told the audience last night that she had been writing a lot of songs lately, and for that reason, some were pretty crappy. She included in her set a song that she called the “least crappy” among them, called “Underestimate.” The song is about how bad things can get in the world and our capacity to tolerate them.
I feel like I haven’t been doing my best writing of late, as I am reaching capacity on a few fronts. Thanks for reading anyway. I’ll be taking some much-needed days off next week.
with love,
L