Why it won’t be clear how many people voted ‘uncommitted’ in Philadelphia
The "uncommitted" write-in campaign might never have a full tally of how many people participated because of how Philadelphia tallies write-ins.
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Write in votes in the Democratic presidential primary in Philadelphia this year exceeded write in votes from the 2020 election by nearly seven to one. Progressive activists had mounted a campaign to ask Democrats to write “uncommitted” on their ballot as a protest against President Joe Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
Unlike Michigan and some other states, Pennsylvania doesn’t offer an “uncommitted” option on the ballot so it’s impossible to know what voters wrote in as of Wednesday. It might not be clear for weeks.
And it may never be clear how many Philadelphia voters wrote “uncommitted” on their ballot for the presidential primary.
The Philadelphia elections board attributes write in votes to people. So if a voter wrote “uncommitted” or “no Joe” on their ballot election officials will likely mark that vote as void rather than counting it alongside similar write-ins in the same race.
Julia Terruso contributed to this article.