Maryland voters who checked the ‘uncommitted’ box on their Democratic primary ballots this spring are grappling with how to cast their presidential vote in November.
Just under one in ten Marylanders joined the nationwide movement to opt out of voting for then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden in May to demand more action against the war in Gaza. In Baltimore City, 14% of voters did the same.
But the state advocacy group Listen to Maryland isn’t backing a presidential candidate ahead of the November election. And neither is the National Uncommitted Movement, who instead urged supporters to vote “anti-Trump up and down the ballot” in a September statement.
That’s left uncommitted voters divided over how to cast their votes this fall. Three former volunteers for Listen to Maryland all have different plans — but none of them are checking the box for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
Rama Thaher-Sawalhi is a Palestinian-American voter living in Montgomery County.
She said the movement’s decision to not endorse a candidate is disappointing.
“My family lives in Gaza,” she told WYPR. “And the reason why I volunteered for the uncommitted [movement], and the reason why I voted uncommitted was because the Biden administration took my taxes, sent them to apartheid Israel to kill my family members.”
In August, the U.S. approved a $20 billion sale of fighter jets and missiles to Israel. Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed over one thousand Israelis, the country’s leaders have carried out attacks that claimed over 43,000 lives in Gaza.
Thaher-Sawalhi said Trump and Harris are the same in her eyes.
“They actually don't put America first; they don't put the people first,” she said. “Look at our taxes, where they go. They go to kill children. And instead of helping unhoused people, investing in healthcare and education, even our infrastructure here in Maryland…it's all about greed. It's all about their seats and winning the election.”
Thaher-Sawalhi said she’s voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein for president.
“A democracy that gives us the option between Trump and Harris is not a democracy,” she said. “We have an opportunity to break this corrupt system and let a third party emerge. I understand that people say Jill Stein doesn't have a chance to win. This election is not about who's winning, it's about who's losing, who is being punished for genocide.”
This summer, the Maryland Green Party gathered just over the 10,000 required signatures to be officially recognized as a political party in the state — which gave Stein a place on the ballot alongside Trump and Harris. The group needs 1% of the Maryland vote to stay recognized.
But not every former uncommitted voter is all-in for Stein. Ethan Eblaghie, a recent Baltimore City College graduate, said he’s writing in Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib for the presidential slot.
Tlaib is the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress — and, Eblaghie said, she’s one of very few Democratic congress representatives that haven’t endorsed Harris.
“For me as an uncommitted voter, I think what I really want to convey to the Democratic Party in Maryland, and also to the Kamala Harris campaign, is that I'm uncommitted to the party if it is going to sanction what's going on,” Eblaghie said. “And I think the easiest way for me to do that is by writing in someone who is a Democrat herself and who is also completely against this genocide and against Kamala Harris.”
Eblaghie said his identity as a first generation American and first time voter is playing a key role in that decision.
“I don't view any American life as any different than a life in any other country,” he said. “I think that every person matters inherently.”
He’s heard the arguments that a vote for anyone but Harris in November will increase Trump’s chances of taking office. But Harris failed to meet demands from uncommitted delegates at the Democratic National Convention in November — which was a big deal to Eblaghie.
“A lot of folks are really worried about Donald Trump and really eager to come behind someone that they know is going to do the right thing,” he said. “But if that person isn't even going to be willing to have a conversation, how can you get to that point?”
Ida Kenna is one of the founding members of Listen to Maryland. She said she’ll also be casting a write-in vote, possibly for Tlaib.
“But I would probably vote for Harris if I was in a more purple or red state,” she said. “Doing a write-in is very much a privilege in terms of potential impact. I definitely encourage friends and comrades in red states to just accept that you have to choose between two evils.”
Kenna said she’s watched the uncommitted movement “get divided and fizzle out” both locally and nationwide after the primary election. Many people are voting for Stein, some Harris or Trump.
“But once the election happens, I'm just hoping that everybody will remember what's important,” she said. “I'm just trying to keep people working together, even if they're voting for different people. The election is a small moment that we have little power over as individuals in a country of many millions of people and an electoral college.”
