Yes, you can vote ‘uncommitted’ in the Wisconsin Democratic primary

Can you vote ‘uncommitted’ as an option for the Wisconsin Democratic primary? Yes, though it won’t be listed on the ballot as “uncommitted.”

Instead, when Wisconsinites participating in April’s Democratic presidential primary go to cast their ballots, they’ll be presented with four options: Joe Biden, Dean Phillips, Uninstructed Delegation or to write in an unlisted name.

Biden, the incumbent president, has already secured enough votes to receive the nomination, and Phillips, a U.S. congressman, has dropped out of the race. But Democrats in other states recently drew attention for protesting Biden’s nomination for a second term by selecting “uncommitted.”

A vote for uninstructed delegation is a voter telling delegates to vote for whoever they think is best at August’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, including Biden, said Derek Clinger, a senior staff attorney with the University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative — provided that enough voters cast their ballots for the uncommitted option. 

While Wisconsinites cast their ballots in the presidential primary, party delegates pick the nominee. Each state has a certain number of delegates, who are pledged to support candidates who receive enough votes in a state’s presidential primary election or caucus. Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally based on how much of the vote candidates capture.

In Wisconsin a candidate must receive 15% of the vote either statewide or in a particular congressional district to receive delegates, according to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s 2024 delegate selection plan. Wisconsin has 95 delegates to distribute. A candidate needs 1,968 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, a threshold Biden surpassed on March 12.

In Wisconsin’s Republican primary, voters will have seven options, including uninstructed delegation. There are 41 delegates up for grabs in that contest. Three delegates are awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes in each of the state’s eight congressional districts, with the rest of the delegates being awarded to the winner of the statewide vote. Like Biden, former President Donald Trump has already secured the needed delegates to clinch his party’s nomination.

Some Democratic primary voters have voted uncommitted in recent elections to protest Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. In Minnesota, for example, “uncommitted” received almost 19% of the vote. It received a little more than 13% in Michigan.

In Wisconsin, an advocacy group called Listen to Wisconsin is encouraging Democrats to vote uninstructed next month, carrying on protests of Biden’s response to the crisis in the Middle East.

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This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.