Gaza Ceasefire Advocates Focus on the Ballot Box
By Sandra Whitehead
July/Aug 2024
After six months of protests and social media campaigns, plus constant calls and emails to government representatives to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, an energetic and astute band of young organizers, who call themselves “Listen to Wisconsin,” decided to take their protest to the ballot box.
“We are one of the states that often determines the presidential election, and by a narrow margin,” Listen to Wisconsin’s communications director Halah Ahmad said March 19 at the launch of the group’s Wisconsin Vote Uninstructed Campaign. “A majority of Americans have called for a ceasefire for months. This campaign is driven by people who are using democracy to make their demands heard.”
Inspired by the success of Listen to Michigan’s Vote Uncommitted Campaign, which secured more than 100,000 (about 13%) “uncommitted” votes in Michigan’s February Democratic primary, Wisconsin ceasefire advocates decided to register their own protest vote in the Democratic primary against the Biden administration’s support for military aid to Israel during its offensive in Gaza.
Israel’s post-Oct. 7 bombing of Gaza “is one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history,” said University of Chicago political science professor Robert Pape, quoted by the Associated Press, Julia Frankel, “Israel’s military campaign in Gaza seen as among the most destructive in recent history, experts say,” AP Jan. 11, 2024.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza from Oct. 7, 2023 to April 3, 2024 stood at 41,000, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. It included 15,370 children, 9,671 women and 37,676 civilians. (The Gaza Health Ministry’s official casualty total was lower but widely viewed as incomplete, NPR reported.)
Leveraging the Power of the Vote
“We are focused on immediate policy impact,” Ahmad announced to the small crowd in front of Milwaukee’s City Hall for the Wisconsin Vote Uninstructed Campaign launch. “We want the White House to take action right now to stop the violence in Gaza.”
Listen to Wisconsin’s demands include:
- An immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza,
- An end to the siege of Gaza,
- Reinstating humanitarian aid and UNRWA funding,
- And an end to unrestricted aid to Israel.
“Our hope is that by pressuring Biden in the primary, we can change his position on the war to align with the vast majority of voters who want a ceasefire,” she explained. “How people vote in November may just depend on what Biden does between now and then.”
Success in the Primary
When Listen to Wisconsin launched its campaign on the state’s first day of early voting, it had just two weeks to secure 20,682 “uninstructed” votes in the Democratic primary—Joe Biden’s 2020 margin of victory in Wisconsin against Donald Trump. (“Uninstructed” is an option on Wisconsin’s primary ballot to vote for none of your party’s candidates. Some states use the terms “uncommitted” or “no preference.” Not all states have this option on their primary ballots.) That would show Biden he needs to change course to win Wisconsin, organizers said.
As vote tallies came in on election day, Listen to Wisconsin’s lead strategist and Wisconsin Vote Uninstructed Campaign manager Reema Ahmad said in an interview on Al Jazeera, May 22, “We only need to show around 20,000 votes tonight … We know we have more than that in terms of supporters. We know we’ve got momentum at our backs and the unique opportunity to deliver this message once and for all—that Biden needs to listen to a majority of us saying, ‘End this genocide. We need a permanent, unconditional ceasefire and an end to military funding.’”
That evening, Listen to Wisconsin’s election watch party buzzed with victory. Within an hour of the polls closing, Wisconsin Vote Uninstructed Campaign surpassed its goal. “That means we can show we have the margin of victory,” Reema Ahmad exclaimed in a post-primary press conference. “In a typical primary election, voter turnout is on the lower end, and we had abysmal weather yesterday. Despite that, we not only exceeded, we more than doubled our goal.”
The campaign passed its goal two and a half times, winning more than 47,800 votes.
At the post-primary press conference, Halah Ahmad described her feelings about the campaign’s success. “Everybody was overwhelmed by the opportunity to finally be heard in a way they haven’t felt for the past six months on the streets, in phone calls, in emails,” she said. “It has been very gratifying to feel that moral clarity echoed and reflected in everyone around you.”
Demonstrating power
In an interview in mid-May with Islamic Horizons, campaign manager Reema Ahmad admitted, “The Biden administration’s lip service but lack of action has been very disappointing.
“You can’t call for a temporary ceasefire and at the same time approve billions of dollars more in arm sales,” she said. “You can’t drop food aid and bombs on a population. That is unacceptable.
“When you see what is happening with our tax dollars, it’s incumbent on us to take a stand,” she added. “We have a duty to the people experiencing a man made famine to do everything we can to stop it.”
The ability of five swing states to demonstrate the power of the vote gives hope, she noted. Statewide polls of five battleground states show “Gaza voters” could impact the November presidential election. Ceasefire advocates hope that gives Biden an incentive to make a course correction.
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, a nonprofit organization advocating for legislation supporting the human rights of the Palestinian people, commissioned YouGov, a global public opinion and data company, to conduct surveys in early May to assess the impact of Biden’s Gaza policy on his reelection chances. It surveyed a representative sample of 2,500 voters registered as Democrats or Independents across five states (Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin).
A critical margin of voters (roughly one in five) across all five states were found to be less likely to vote for Biden because of his handling of the war in Gaza. Voters polled showed overwhelming support of a ceasefire, with 40% saying that imposing an immediate and lasting ceasefire, conditioning aid to Israel and ensuring full entry of humanitarian aid would make them more likely to vote for Biden in November (see https://ajpaction.org/thegazavote/).
In addition to demonstrating popular support, the Wisconsin Uninstructed Campaign received the endorsements of more than 25 Wisconsin elected officials, 20 grassroots advocacy organizations and 25 faith leaders.
“What we have right now is a mandate from Wisconsin, from a critical margin of Biden’s base saying, ‘You need to change course. You need to finally listen to a majority of Americans calling for a permanent ceasefire and an end to military funding,’” Reema Ahmad said. “Then we can look at November. That is how we open up the pathway to save democracy at the end of this year.
“We still have several months until the election,” Ahmad noted. “We have been clear about what we want. The ball is solidly in Biden’s court.”
*Halah and Reema Ahmad are sisters from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Sandra Whitehead, an author, educator and journalist based in Milwaukee, is the lead reporter for the Wisconsin Muslim Journal.
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