For Immediate Release: April 3, 2024

Press Contact: Brittany Ramos DeBarros, leaveitblankny@gmail.com 

Leave It Blank Coalition Estimates Nearly 12% of New York Democrats Cast Blank Ballots for Palestine in Presidential Primary

New York – Almost 40,000 New York Democrats, representing nearly 12% of Democratic primary voters that cast ballots statewide, used their ballot to send a clear message to President Biden: stop the genocide in Gaza.

While the New York State Board of Election (NYSBOE) refuses to release accurate ballot totals that include blank votes in unofficial reporting, the coalition was able to calculate total ballot estimates by using NYSBOE delegate reporting, confirmed by comparing with data from counties that did report blank Presidential ballot numbers.

These New Yorkers join hundreds of thousands of voters across the United States who have already taken to the polls to let the President know working people don’t want public dollars funding the mass killing, mass displacement, and mass starvation of families in Gaza.

“We’re incredibly proud that the Leave it Blank campaign brought together over 50 organizations, from every major city in the state, to mobilize their communities and deliver these results in less than three weeks with a budget of under $2,500. But our work is far from over,” said Brittany Ramos DeBarros. “Just this week the Israeli army killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, resulting in multiple humanitarian groups suspending their operations in Gaza. Now the situation is even more dire, with over one million people—including hundreds of thousands of children—on the brink of famine.”

President Biden is poised to approve an additional $18 billion in weapons transfers to Israel, on top of the $2.5 billion weapons package approved last week.  

“President Biden cannot continue to enable Benjamin Netanyahu’s collective punishment of the Palestinian people. He must stop supplying the weapons and funding that enable Israel to commit these atrocities and use the full power of his office to bring about a permanent and immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages, and the safe flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Every day this catastrophe continues, more innocent lives are lost, more homes are destroyed, more people are starving, and more children are deprived of their childhood. President Biden will need to build a broad and diverse coalition like ours if he hopes to win in November and that will remain impossible until he brings this depravity to an end,” said DeBarros.

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