March 2024 Primary Election Voting Guide
It’s time to vote, y’all!
The primary election season is in full swing and a critical election, Super Tuesday, is tomorrow on March 5, 2024 in a number of of states including California, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia. Don’t see your state in this list? Find the primary election date for your state here.
This post includes information for 1) creating a voting plan, 2) determing how to vote, and 3) March 2024 voting resources.
What’s your voting plan?
Select your state via this website and you will be directed to your state’s election office to locate your polling place for voting.
There are many programs across the country to provide free rides to the polls (Uber, Lyft, and public transit); just Google “free ride to the polls” to find the program in your local city.
In my home state, California, if you are registered to vote at your address, you should have received a ballot in the mail at the beginning of February. You can fill that out and either mail it out (it must be postmarked on or before election day to be counted) or drop it off at your local polling place or a ballot collection drop box.
In San Francisco, you can stop by City Hall and vote there from 7AM-8PM on election day.
Determining How to Vote
The last several months have been shocking and eye-opening as we have witnessed a genocide unfold in Gaza. Many people are disgusted with our elected officials who have empowered, armed, and funded the murder of 30,000 people, mostly women and children; the displacement and starvation of nearly 2 million people; and the total destruction of Gaza.
That’s why it is so incredibly important to vote in this primary election season. Do not sit this election out; we need to demonstrate the power of the people seeking justice. Your vote may decide whether a candidate supportive of a permanent ceasefire and human rights for all goes on to the general election in November over the AIPAC-funded pro-war + white supremacist candidate.
Research your local, state, and federal candidates stances on a ceasefire, which is the bare minimum at this point, and vote only for candidates supportive of a permanent one in Gaza. This position tells you everything you need to know about a candidate:
- Whether they believe in human rights for everyone or only for select people
- Whether they are more likely to hold biased and racist beliefs to justify their stance
- How opportunistic they are versus choosing to do the morally right and just thing
How to Determine a Candidate’s Stance on a Ceasefire in Gaza
- Google the candidates. Start with Googling the candidates by their full names and examine the statements issued on their websites for insight into their stance and their platform and policies. Do they have statements addressing the genocide in Gaza, calling for a ceasefire, are they silent, or are they only sympathetic to one side? A shortcut is also Googling their full name and “ceasefire” or “Gaza” or “Israel” to see what comes up. If they currently hold elected office, how did they vote on anything related to ceasefire efforts which came up to them? In some cases, candidates have blocked votes or outright voted “no” on ceasefire resolutions at the city council and political party level — these are not candidates I will be supporting.
- Scan their social media. What statements have they issued on their social platforms — namely Twitter and Instagram? Who have they publicly stated that they stand with? Do they acknowledge everyone’s humanity or are they selective about whose humanity they acknowledge? Are they silent? You may need to go all the way back to the beginning of October to determine where they stand.
Given what the Gazans are currently enduring, we can all take 30 minutes to an hour of our own time and do our due diligence to vote for people who will not continue to uphold an unjust status quo that means being complicit in genocide and enabling a never ending military occupation and system of apartheid.
On the Presidential primary, as Michigan demonstrated last week, voting “uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primary can have a strong impact. Within a week, Vice President Kamala Harris called for a six-week temporary ceasefire as a direct result of the Michigan “uncommitted” result. There are more states in which you can vote “uncommitted” to send a message to the Biden administration. In fact, this weekend a large labor union in Washington state endorsed “uncommitted” over Biden in that state’s primary election. Check out this post for a full list of states in which you can vote “uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primary. In California, where there is no “uncommitted” option, I wrote in “uncommitted” for President on my election ballot.
A final note on this: it’s important to determine where local candidates are on the issue of Gaza + Palestine at large because these candidates will likely go on to run for higher office at the state and federal office; that is how our political system works — politicos, labor unions, political organizations, etc. don’t bet on people who are not proven to be viable and capable of winning when it comes to running for Congress or some other higher-level office; they like betting on “winners.” So as voters, we need to make sure that pro-peace and pro-justice candidates are the ones elected in at the local level.
March 2024 Voting Resources
The resources below are just several of *many* resources out there to help you make informed decisions when voting.
If you’re not in California, I recommend checking out the resources that are available where you live. Your local newspaper should carry election endorsements by its editorial board, and there are often political clubs, organizations, and labor unions local to where you live that will have endorsements of their own.
Find an organization or multiple organizations that are aligned with your values and what you want to see in your city and look at their endorsements. If you’re still in doubt, ask a friend how they’re voting.
National
- Vote for Peace — Endorsements
- Working Families Party — Endorsements
- Justice Democrats — Endorsements
California
- Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR) — Endorsements
- San Francisco Women’s Political Committee (SFWPC) — Endorsements
- YIMBY Action — Endorsements
- SF Parent Action — Endorsements
