LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky’s presidential primary races came with few surprises on Tuesday. Incumbent President Joe Biden secured the Democrat nomination, while former President Donald Trump came out on top for Republicans.
Although Biden received 71.3% of total votes from Democrats and Trump received 85% of the vote for Republicans, thousands of Kentuckians chose to cast their ballots in other ways.
Kentucky is one of several states that allow voters to choose “uncommitted” instead of individual candidates or write-ins. The state’s primary results follow trends seen in other states that have already had their primary election.
Tuesday’s primary saw 17.9% of Democrats in Kentucky were “uncommitted,” while a combined 10.8% of voters chose either Marianne Williamson or Dean Phillips over Biden.
EXPLAINED: Here’s how uncommitted ballot votes work
According to the Associated Press, at least 8 of Kentucky's 53 Democrat delegates are "uncommitted" as of Wednesday. Forty-three are assigned to Biden and two have yet to be assigned. All 46 of the state's Republican delegates went to Trump.
“Uncommitted” vote movements have been largely popular among Democrats this election season, with organizers calling on voters to choose the option to protest Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. The 7-month war has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and has devastated the Gaza Strip.
But it wasn’t just Democrats who weren’t in full support of their party’s top pick.
Three-and-a-half percent of GOP voters also voted “uncommitted” in Kentucky’s primary. Another 6.4% voted for former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, despite her dropping out of the race.
In Jefferson County, 10.8% of Democrats and nearly 5% of Republicans voted “uncommitted.”
Compared to data from the last presidential primary in Kentucky, more Democrats and less Republicans chose to vote “uncommitted” this year.
In 2020's primary, only 10% of Democrats were “uncommitted,” while 13% of Republican voters chose that option.
However, there have been years where the “uncommitted” vote was higher. In 2012, roughly 42% of Kentucky Democrats chose to vote “uncommitted” as former President Barack Obama sought his second term in office. That year, only 6% of Republicans voted similarly.
Despite tens of thousands of “uncommitted” voters in 2024, both Biden and Trump have secured enough delegates to become their party’s presumptive nominee in November’s election.
Both candidates are expected to debate on June 27 and again in September.
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