How to vote for Palestinians: Kamala Harris or third party?

By Gina Aranki

Op-ed

In October, the local organization Mideast: JustPeace held a community gathering to talk frankly about the dilemma those of us who care about Palestine and the Middle East face: cast a protest vote, or vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, knowing that things are likely to be worse under Donald Trump. Or at least equally bad.

Believe me, I am not being flip about the horrors being visited on thousands and thousands of primarily women and children in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran, fueled and made possible by U.S. taxpayer billions. Family lines destroyed. The bulldozing of bodies, living and dead. Death by burning from bombs and white phosphorus. Amputations without anesthesia. How humans have not advanced beyond this most profoundly inhumane activity—to wage war on each other and the planet—is painful to me. Sadly, greed is a powerful motivator.

So in this presidential election year, what are we to do? Our choices are poor as far as American policy toward Israel is concerned. Israel, with 7.2 million Jewish residents, received $17.8 billion in military aid in the past year of their war on Palestine and the rest of the Middle East from US taxpayers, while many needs in American cities and towns remain unmet. That is $2,472 per person. People say Israel is a valuable ally, but it has spied on us, attacked a U.S. ship in international waters, killing 34 and wounding 171, and given us a very bad name throughout the entire Middle East region. How are such things in our best interest? Despite millions of people in the streets regularly for the past year, despite poll after poll showing that a vast majority of Americans want a cease fire and a smaller majority want all US military aid to Israel to end, especially while they are committing war crimes, our government ignores our cries and marginalizes our voices. Despite the 100,000+ Uncommitted votes in the Michigan primary this spring, the Democrats shut us out of any meaningful participation in their convention this summer. It has been a very long time (if ever) that the U.S. has been a true broker for a just peace in the region. And the lack of a just peace over nearly 80 years is what started this latest conflagration.

Democrats are painting this election with the brush of fear. It’s not unwarranted, but it speaks of a lack of creativity and imagination against the challenges we face on myriad issues. Instead they are suggesting that voters must decide, yet again, between evil and evil-light. You might be offended by the suggestion that the two main party candidates are alike, but for those who care about Palestinians, there isn’t much more evil than ethnic cleansing and genocide, which has been made possible by a Democratic administration.

The other primary argument for a vote for Harris is that it’s generally a bad idea to be a one-issue voter. Many are deeply (and rightly) afraid of the consequences of another Trump presidency; the revenge he is espousing toward his perceived enemies is alarming, Project 2025, which he has avowed and then disavowed and avowed again, even more so. They believe we should ally ourselves with those with whom we hold most values in common, even if they can’t be bothered with stopping the carnage. At least Democrats care about women’s reproductive rights, making billionaires pay their fair share of taxes, and want to reverse climate change. So that’s something, and if we start there at least we have a chance at a seat at the table. The alternative is we aren’t anywhere even near the table.

Maybe sit this one out? Some argue that the thing to do is to leave the Presidential boxes unchecked. There are plenty of state and local races that impact us in Michigan, perhaps more directly in our daily lives than the presidential race. It’s these elections, for school or library boards making decisions about banning books, or for those who will make planning, zoning, taxing decisions, that we should pay closer attention to. Even more, we should be running for these offices ourselves.

Some of the efforts I’d like to see gain ground (or at least additional discussion about) across the political spectrum on Nov. 5 and beyond:

Ranked Choice Voting: Rather than voting for one candidate in any primary or election, voters would be able to vote for as many candidates as appeal to them. If your first choice doesn’t win, your vote counts toward your next choice. Proponents say our current system “punishes voters with ‘wasting their vote’ if they choose their actual favorite and don’t use their ballot to support a ‘front-runner’ candidate,” allowing candidates to be elected even without a majority of votes. This system “makes elections toxic by incentivizing candidates to beat down their opponents and exaggerate differences, missing opportunities to reinforce areas of agreement that unify the electorate and create consensus for getting important things done after the election” Click here to learn more.

Abolish the Electoral College: The electoral college determines the number of electoral votes in each state based on how many U.S. Senators and Representatives — the latter of which is determined by population—the state has. In 48 states, the winner of the popular vote takes all the state’s electoral votes, which decides the presidential outcome. Proponents say a straight one-person, one-vote system would make presidential voting more democratic, eliminating the possibility that some number of faceless electors could decide an election regardless of the number of votes they may receive. 63% of Americans would move to a popular vote system for presidential elections, according to a Pew Research poll of nearly 10,000 Americans this past August-September (Click here for more on this issue here).

A New Policy PAC: This effort by Josh Paul, the first of the Biden Administration appointees to resign over U.S. policy toward Israel, creates a political action committee that supports elected officials and candidates on the basis of human rights and compliance with American and international law. Subscribe to their email list or donate.

Swap Your Vote. For these last few days before Nov. 5, there’s an intriguing new option called Swap Your Vote, which states that if you are in a swing state, the effort will match you with two Harris supporters in non-battleground states who will pledge to vote for your protest/third-party candidate if you pledge your vote to Harris. The website suggests that this is a way to both protest AND defeat Trump (www.swapyourvote.org).

The outcome of this election is going to come down to thin margins in a few states. Regardless of that outcome, our work to bring peace and justice to our world, both at home and the Middle East, will continue long after Election Day. I truly hope more of us Americans will rise up and work to build movements on the issues we care about, even if our favored candidate is in the White House.

Leelanau County resident Gina Aranki is a co-founder of MidEast: Just Peace, a group formed in 2002 to educate and advocate on issues important to the region and to Americans. Her parents were born in Palestine and Jordan. Visit Mideastjustpeace.net or email mejp2020@gmail.com.