About 10% of Democratic primary voters in Philly wrote in something other than Biden. Here’s where they live.
A campaign urging Democratic voters to write “uncommitted” in the presidential race to protest President Joe Biden appears to have boosted write-in totals in Philly. Here’s what you need to know.
Although it was never much in doubt that Philly Democrats would give President Joe Biden the thumbs-up for a second term, plenty of them had other ideas.
A statewide campaign to write in “uncommitted” on the Democratic presidential primary ballot seems to have succeeded in marshaling thousands of Philadelphians to protest the Biden administration’s stance on the Gaza conflict.
Write-ins amounted to nearly 15,000 votes citywide, mostly in left-leaning parts of the city. In three of the city’s 1,703 voting divisions — two in West Philly and one near Temple University — write-ins actually beat out Biden.
Do we know if the write-ins were for “uncommitted” or another name?
The exact number of “uncommitted” write-ins — as opposed to other names — won’t be known for weeks, if ever. Pennsylvania election code requires counties to report only write-in votes cast for a “person.”
“If write-in votes are cast for something other than a person, the counties have the option to report those write-in votes in a category labeled ‘scattered,’” a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State said in an email. “Therefore, it is most likely that we will not know what the specific write-ins said if they were not cast for a ‘person.’”
City Commissioner Seth Bluestein said that is likely the path Philadelphia will take. If a write-in vote is not marked for a person, Bluestein said in a text, it will likely be marked void.
But an Inquirer analysis of the geographic pattern of write-in votes suggests that most come from the party’s left flank.
What parts of the city had the most write-in votes?
In relative terms, write-ins got the largest share of the vote in University City, Fishtown, Northern Liberties, upscale parts of South Philadelphia, and around Temple University. A sizable number also came from Manayunk and Roxborough in the northwest.
Together, these areas comprise a cluster of mostly white, mostly well-educated, consistently left-leaning Democratic voters.
What about the rest of the city?
Democrats in less left-leaning parts of the city also registered discontent with Biden. In most wards in the city’s Northeast, where Democrats tend to be more moderate and working class, Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota, managed to get more than 10% of the vote — despite having suspended his presidential campaign over a month ago.
That helped net him just over 8,000 votes citywide — smaller than the write-in total, but still significant in a low-turnout election.
That protest from the center mirrors the disaffection among Republicans, many of whom also voted for a withdrawn candidate, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, instead of former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee.
What does this mean for Biden in November?
What this protest vote portends for Democrats come November is unclear. Divisions with a high protest vote — defined as the share of voters choosing either Phillips or writing in an alternative — didn’t have especially high turnout.
That suggests that the protest vote doesn’t necessarily come from voters who would have stayed home otherwise.
Whether these voters will come home to Biden in November, or whether they will vote at all, is an open question and something that poses a challenge for Pennsylvania Democratic Party leaders. Traditionally, Philadelphia’s votes have been the linchpin of successful Democratic campaigns statewide, although its turnout has been lagging for several cycles.
If registered Democrats are so unhappy with their nominee as to sit the November election out — or vote for someone else — the party’s prospects could be in jeopardy.
Hari Patel, a West Philly voter, told reporters Tuesday that he planned to vote “uncommitted” after reluctantly supporting Biden in 2020. ”I was hoping he wouldn’t be the candidate in 2020,” said Patel, 42.
He won’t vote for Trump in November, but he isn’t sure of much else.
Staff writer Nate File contributed to this article.