KUOW: These WA Dems Are Voting 'Uncommitted Delegates’
Amelia Ireland, a mom in Bellingham, is voting “uncommitted” to send a message to the White House: Call for a ceasefire in Gaza. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its offensive after Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7.
“I'm not comfortable with our options right now,” Ireland said. “Part of the fear and the anxiety around it is like, well, if this is it, then what do we do? Because this doesn’t feel right.”
Among those voting “uncommitted” are Seattle Jews.
Matt Weiner, with Jewish Voice for Peace Action, said Biden and the Democratic establishment are effectively approving and funding genocide in Gaza, leaving voters to choose “the lesser of two evils” come November.
“If the lesser of two evils is genocide, where are we at?” Weiner said.
Chelsea Alvarez with the Kadima Reconstructionist Community, a progressive synagogue, said, “A primary is not a coronation.”
“Every vote truly does count and can be an expression of our higher values,” she said.
Rebekah Harris Liebermann is the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees. She plans to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s Democratic presidential primary next week.
“My grandfather died just about a year ago, and it would break his heart to see what is being done in his name and in our names,” Liebermann said. “It is imperative that we do absolutely everything that we can to stop the genocide that's happening.”
Liebermann was part of a coalition working this week to organize “uncommitted” voters. The group included Palestinian Americans, Muslims Americans, members of the East African community, labor activists, and others who want an end to the war in Gaza.
Naazneen Ali, an Indian American, said the Palestinians' position reminds her of the territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan.
"Palestinians should have a right to defend themselves, should have a right to their liberties,” Ali said. "I'm not forgetting my Kashmiri siblings. I'm not forgetting the Congo. I'm not forgetting other places of genocide."
