A coalition of progressive activists is threatening to sue the New York State Board of Elections if the number of blank ballots cast in the Democratic presidential primary next Tuesday aren’t reported in the unofficial results that night.
The “Leave It Blank NY” campaign aims to convince primary voters to submit blank ballots in protest of the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
The campaign was launched earlier this month by leftist activists, including Brittany Ramos DeBarros, a former candidate in New York’s 11th congressional district, and Hesham El-Meligy, a former candidate for New York City comptroller. It has since grown into a coalition of more than 20 groups — such as Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, and several New York chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America — who are coordinating phone banks and other voter engagements in the lead-up to the primary.
Although President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have already clinched their parties’ respective nominations, a significant number of blank votes recorded in New York’s presidential primary could further pressure the White House to change its stance toward the Israel-Hamas war.
Usually, only 1% of ballots are submitted blank in New York, according to Leave It Blank NY. Ballots in the upcoming presidential primary will not have “uncommitted” or write-in options, so the coalition hopes that releasing the number of blank ballots alongside other votes on primary night would allow the public to gauge antiwar sentiment among Democratic voters without having to wait until the election results are certified weeks later.
But state elections officials have said they don’t plan to report blank votes on primary night because they won’t affect the allocation of New York’s presidential delegates based on the share of votes the candidates receive, per the campaign. 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.
On Monday, the coalition 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.
“While the Board has attempted to justify [its] discriminatory policy by claiming that Blanks are ‘not relevant’ to the result, this rationale ignores the fact that an accurate picture of total votes cast is a form of election result unto itself,” says the letter, which was signed by Brooklyn-based attorney H. Emad Ansari on behalf of the campaign and shared with Gothamist. “The Board’s policy decision also ignores the significance of blank ballots in signaling voters’ disapproval for the field of candidates listed in any election.”
The state elections board did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Early voting in the primary kicked off on Saturday and goes until March 30.
Leave It Blank NY echoes similar campaigns in other states this year, where organizers have urged Democratic primary voters to cast uncommitted ballots or vote for candidates besides Biden to signal their rejection of American foreign policy on the war in Gaza. In over a dozen states’ primaries, about 13% of Democratic voters on average cast such votes — including in swing state Michigan — a New York Times analysis found.
DeBarros with Leave It Blank NY said the campaign is meant to elevate the voices of New Yorkers who support a lasting cease-fire in Gaza and oppose the United States’ provision of weapons to Israel. She said state elections officials would be undermining the democratic process by failing to report the blank ballot tally on election night, particularly since they’ve confirmed blank votes are automatically counted by voting machines.
“If the Board of Elections’ only articulation for why they’re not reporting that data is that they don’t consider it relevant, that begs the question of why they have the jurisdiction to decide what’s relevant to voters, when we have the right to vote blank,” she told Gothamist.
In its letter, the campaign wrote that if the board reports election-night vote totals without blank ballots, it would mislead the public “by suggesting higher voter support for candidates than was actually registered at the polls as well as lower turnout than actually occurred.”
“The practical and very real effect of the policy is that it discourages voters, who in this instance are disproportionately young people and people of color, from fully participating in the electoral process,” the letter said.
In recent weeks, the Biden administration called for a temporary cease-fire of at least six weeks in Gaza so humanitarian aid can more easily reach Palestinians in the strip. About 2 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes due to Israel’s military operations after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against the country, according to the United Nations. More than 30,000 people have died in the war so far.
On primary day, polls in New York City will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can find your local polling place here. For places outside the city, check out the state BOE’s website.
This is a developing story and may be updated.