44 delegates voted “present” during the Democratic National Convention’s (DNC) symbolic roll call vote, according to a Daily Caller review.
The vote, a symbolic gesture after the Democrats officially nominated Harris as their candidate with a virtual roll call in early August, highlighted the party’s divide over the contentious Israel/Palestine issue.
Likely among the 44 present votes were the 30 delegate members of the “Uncommitted” protest movement. They say they “feel deeply hurt and betrayed by the President’s decisions to continue funding war crimes and the mass killing of Palestinians,” according to their website.
Some members of the Uncommitted movement represent officially uncommitted delegates, like Washington state’s Yaz Kader and Sabrene Odeh, according to The Seattle Times. Both voted present during the virtual roll call earlier in August in an effort to pressure Harris to support a ceasefire and an embargo on U.S. weapons to Israel, The Times reported.
“I entered my vote on behalf of a 10-year-old who was bombed and killed on her 10th birthday,” Odeh said, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Hamas Flag Flown At Rally Near DNC)
Kader and Odeh joined seven other delegates from Washington in voting present.
Twelve other states joined Washington in relaying present votes. Those states were Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and the home state of Harris’ running mate Tim Walz, Minnesota, a Daily Caller review found.
Minnesota led the charge with ten present votes, the most of any state.
The 44 symbolic present votes outranked the 37 delegates who were officially pledged to “Uncommitted” before President Joe Biden bowed out of the race.
Harris officially secured 4,567 of the 4,695 available delegates, NBC News reported. That number far outweighed the 1,967 delegates needed to secure the nomination.
