Use of the Undecided Option in 2024

With the presidential primary season in the rearview mirror, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have sewn up their respective party nominations. While both presumptive nominees received the lion’s share of votes—Biden received 87.1% of Democratic primary votes cast, and Trump received 75.8% of Republican primary votes— there was another option on some states’ ballots that captured the attention of a portion of the electorate in 2024, the uncommitted vote. 

“Uncommitted” – or similar alternatives like “No Preference” or “None of the names listed”– attracted significant interest this year. In states where this is listed as an option, there were movements among Democratic voters calling to vote uncommitted in protest of the Biden Administration's decisions during the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. In Michigan and Minnesota, this option attracted notable support. In Michigan, 13.2% of the vote went to the uncommitted ballot option, totaling over 100,000 voters. In Minnesota, 18.8% of Democratic voters opted for the uncommitted option, around 45,000 voters. While there was less organization among Republicans for a similar movement to vote uncommitted as a political statement, some Republicans also opted for uncommitted when given the choice.

However, not every primary or caucus allowed voters to vote uncommitted. To gauge the prevalence of this option, I looked into the Republican and Democratic party primaries in every state and researched whether this option existed.

In the best-case scenarios, I used official sample ballots available on state election websites to determine the presence or absence of this option. However, in cases where a sample ballot was not available, I turned to a few weaker forms of evidence:

1. State or party policies
2. Previous primary ballots
3. News sources

In 20 states, one or both parties provided an uncommitted or similar option. See the accompanying table for further details about which state ballots offer the option, their choice of wording, and the source of this information.

Confidence Tier Key: 

• Tier 1: Found sample ballot indicating findings
• Tier 2: Found referendum or policy indicating findings
• Tier 3: Found previous ballot/election results indicating findings
• Tier 4: Found news source indicating findings

* We could not find sample ballots but do not have a specific explanation as to why 

** We could not find a sample ballot but it is reasonable to assume it is because the election was too far from when we gathered the data

*** We could not find a sample ballot but believe it is because the state does not use ballots (and instead uses more informal caucus-style voting)