TILTON, United States, Jan 23, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Peace activists are urging
US voters considering candidates for November's presidential election to
instead write "ceasefire" on their ballots in protest over Joe Biden's
handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

"Vote Ceasefire" -- a coalition of local anti-war groups -- says the effort
allows Americans to give voice to their anger at the Democratic president
over the mounting toll of civilian deaths in Gaza as Israel responds to the
deadly October 7 Hamas attacks.

Voters in New Hampshire will pick their preferred candidate in either the
Democratic or Republican nominating contests on Tuesday but the push is aimed
at progressives wishing to put the White House on notice.

"For the last three months, as the world has watched the war in Gaza continue
to worsen, the Biden administration has refused all demands to call for a
ceasefire and to end US support for Israel," the campaign posted on X,
formerly Twitter.

"So we're taking our fight to the place Democrats care about the most -- the
polls. While Joe Biden will almost certainly win the Democratic nomination
later this year, he must know that the road to get there will be long and
hard if he refuses to listen to his constituents."

The October 7 attack resulted in the death of around 1,140 people in Israel,
mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official
Israeli figures.

In response, Israel has carried out a relentless air, land and sea offensive
that has killed at least 25,295 people in Gaza, around 70 percent of them
women, children and adolescents, according to the latest toll issued Monday
by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

"Vote Ceasefire" organizers have not indicated what kind of turnout would
constitute a success for the campaign and it is unclear how much affect it
will have.

Biden himself is not on the ballot and is largely ignoring the contest, after
New Hampshire officials clashed with the national party over scheduling.

A separate campaign is urging supporters to write Biden's name on the ballot
in exactly the same manner that "Vote Ceasefire" is promoting.

The outcome will not affect the nomination process in any case, as the
Democratic National Committee has declared the New Hampshire primary
illegitimate.

Biden is expected to win the nomination comfortably.

"I'm doing this as over 80 percent of Democratic voters are in favor of a
ceasefire for Gaza and are opposed to the continuing slaughter of civilian
men, women and children in Palestine, with the United States-supplied
weapons," campaign volunteer and former Democratic state representative Chris
Balch said in a video posted to X.

But self-help author Marianne Williamson, who is on the Democratic ballot,
said the "Vote Ceasefire" campaign was doing nothing to help the citizens of
Gaza.

"A way to actually help create a ceasefire would be to vote for a candidate
who has called for one from the very beginning," she posted in response to
the campaign's social media statements.