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Home ยป News ยป News ยป One-in-Five Portland Dems Blank Primary Ballots After Gaza Ceasefire Campaign Against ‘Butcher Biden’
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One-in-Five Portland Dems Blank Primary Ballots After Gaza Ceasefire Campaign Against ‘Butcher Biden’

Edward TomicBy Edward TomicMarch 7, 2024Updated:March 7, 20245 Comments3 Mins Read
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Pro-Palestine protestors block the road outside Bath Iron Works
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Although incumbent President Joe Biden handily won Maine’s Democratic presidential primary election on Super Tuesday, he appears to have been opposed by a significant contingent of Portland voters protesting his administration’s handling of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

[RELATED: Anti-Israel Protesters Defend Hamas โ€œResistanceโ€ by Blockading Traffic in Maineโ€™s Biggest City…]

According to unofficial election results posted Wednesday morning by the City of Portland, 20 percent of Democratic primary ballots in Portland were recorded as “blank” — a total of 1,024 votes.

The number of “blank” ballots cast in Portland far surpassed those cast for President Biden’s declared primary opponent U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who received just over four percent of the vote in Maine’s most populous city.

The large number of ballots recorded as “blank” may be attributable to a write-in campaign pushed by pro-Palestine activist groups, including the Maine Coalition for Palestine, which urged voters to write in “Ceasefire” to “make sure Butcher Biden can’t ignore your message.”

pic.twitter.com/917Qcyo4aJ

— mvprights (@SchaibleRobert) March 2, 2024

The Maine write-in initiative comes after a similar pro-Palestine campaign in Michigan, home of the largest Arab population in the U.S., led to 13 percent of Democrat ballots — 100,995 total votes — being cast in the state’s Feb. 27 primary for “uncommitted” instead of Biden.

"So that's a wow."

Watch as stunned CNN reacts to Biden losing in Dearborn, Michigan to "uncommitted." pic.twitter.com/Q1kw3PrW9J

— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) February 28, 2024

The State of Maine, unlike Michigan, does not give voters the option of choosing “uncommitted,” and votes cast for undeclared write-in candidates are only reported as “blank,” making it impossible to determine the number of “ceasefire” votes cast on Tuesday.

Since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas and the ongoing retaliatory bombardment of the Gaza Strip by Israel, pro-Palestine activist groups have held several protests throughout Maine calling for ceasefire.

In December, pro-Palestine protestors staged a “die-in” at Bath Iron Works, accusing the General Dynamics-owned shipyard of arming an “imperialist genocide” in Gaza.

Pro-Palestine Protestors Block Road Outside Bath Iron Works, Demand Shipyard Stop Arming โ€œImperialist Genocideโ€

The Maine Democratic Socialists of America, alongside the Communist Party for Socialism and Liberation, have held multiple pro-Palestine rallies in Portland.

[RELATED: Maine DSA Stages Pro-Hamas Rally in Portland, Calls Terror Attacks on Israel โ€œMorally and Legally Legitimateโ€โ€ฆ]

In February, eleven protestors were arrested for obstructing a public way after a Pro-Palestine ceasefire demonstration blocked a highway on-ramp in Portland.

Protestor in Portland today… pic.twitter.com/NDd63xqOsS

— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) February 2, 2024

The Portland City Council voted unanimously in support of a Israel-Gaza ceasefire resolution in early January, which called for President Biden and Congress to “demand an immediate ceasefire to urgently end the violence in Gaza and Israel.โ€

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Edward Tomic

Edward Tomic is a reporter for The Maine Wire based in Southern Maine. He grew up near Boston, Massachusetts and is a graduate of Boston University. He can be reached at [email protected]

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Rooster
Rooster
2 years ago

Where are the calls for a Ukraine cease fire, or is there to much money to be made by the military industrial complex to worry about Ukrainian’s dying?

0
Chris
Chris
2 years ago

It’s interesting that the sign the protester is holding equates Israel with National Socialism by which I assume they mean The Third Reich of Germany. I guess they don’t realize the German gov’t of the 20’s and 30’s under Hitler was very anti Jewish due to their outsize control of the banking system which hobbled Germany after WWI and the fact that Communism and Judaism are inextricably linked and Hitler was very much anti communist.

-1
Chris Cloutier
Chris Cloutier
2 years ago

It’s interesting that the sign the protester is holding equates Israel with National Socialism by which I assume they mean The Third Reich of Germany. I guess they don’t realize the German gov’t of the 20’s and 30’s under Hitler was very anti Jewish due to their outsize control of the banking system which hobbled Germany after WWI and the fact that Communism and Judaism are inextricably linked and Hitler was very much anti communist.

-1
ME Infidel
ME Infidel
2 years ago

This article proves beyond a reasonable doubt that we have very stupid people taking up valuable oxygen here in Maine. Makes you want to spend several hundred thousand dollars to send your kid to an indoctrination center after the brain washing process that began in the public schools, doesnโ€™t it?

-1
Red
Red
2 years ago

โ€˜How Many Gazans Have Already Died? Perhaps 200,000.โ€˜
Unz Review
Mar 6, 2024

Hitler was right.

-1
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