meanwhile the removal of the county line is giving a progressive movement in the state a real shot far-left Democrats are planning to vote uncommitted on the ballot for the Democratic presidential primary a warning signal of sorts for President Biden urging his administration to take a stronger stance on the war in Gaza the protest vote has been used successfully across the country in places like Michigan and Missouri a senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports New Jersey appears to be next we're desperate we're we're desperate to be heard Carissa Cunningham says New Jersey Democratic socialists pushing to end the violence in Gaza followed the example of States like Michigan where a 100,000 Democrats voted uncommitted as a protest vote against incumbent President Joe Biden's handling of the Israel Hamas war in Jersey they worked hard to get the issue on June's Democratic primary ballot under the slogan Justice for Palestine permanent ceasefire now elected officials have really been ignoring everyday working people who care about this issue and so the only message that we feel that they will respond to is our votes and we also want to be able to send our delegates send our voices to the Democratic National Convention to push Biden even more directly I'm going to be urging people to vote uncommitted as a protest vote US Senate candidate Larry ham believes ongoing protests demanding President Biden call for a ceasefire have begun to move the political needle the UN Security Council finally approved a ceasefire resolution after the us abstained if Israel invades Rafa the administration now warns it'll impose conditions on military aid ham sees this uncommitted primary vote for a ceasefire as a lever so what we are trying to do now is to keep the pr on to bring the policy and actions in line with the rhetoric given New Jersey's large population of Muslim Americans um it would not be a surprise to see some votes um for this slate here in New Jersey writers M rasmas and notes after a federal judge abolished Jersey's County Line and ordered block ballots for the Democratic primary it gave the justice for Palestine movement a real shock this is the first Primary in which there is no line and therefore no visual cue to the organization backed candidates for those delegate positions this is now going to be you'll have a slogan that says New Jersey Democrats uh you'll have a slogan that says justice for Palestine and it'll be up to voters to sort out which delegates they're voting for Democratic socialists got 126 National convention delegates and they're on most of the ballots in New Jersey but they've ended up at the bottom of the the presidential block the bottom left corner on Bergen County's newly designed block ballot the group launched a protest on X demanding County clerks redraw the ballot what they're doing is they're marginalizing Us by keeping us in this small print in this small box I'm getting letters from from this this group I'm not going to re redraw the ballot the ballot is in process to meet the state deadlines to make sure the vote by mail ballots get out on time Bergen County Clerk John hog says most clerks opted for this design putting the justice for Palestine group last because while they do have delegates they don't have an actual candidate it's primarily a protest vote delegate font sizes are all the same he's scrambling to educate voters about the new ballots and says this has not been easy Hurricane Sandy I thought was going to be my toughest challenged election this one definitely beats it I'm not satisfied by the direction that we're getting from the state clerks are on their own and it's very very difficult to abide by deadlines when there's complete unknown of what's Happening next in the court case there's no rules for this it is Wild West because we're just making this if we're talking about ballots in we are literally making up as we go along here in New Jersey fdu Dan Casino says it's unlikely County clerks would redraw ballots at this point the deadline to send out vote by mail ballots is April 20th I'm Brenda Flanigan and Jay spot light [Music] news