Michigan voters head to polls for primary as Biden faces protest over Gaza policy

MICHIGAN, US - FEB. 27: US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are expected to easily win their primary contests in the state of Michigan when polls close at 8 p.m. local time Tuesday. According to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who was cited by media outlets, there was a record turnout in early voting. A total of 78,093 residents voted in person at early voting sites and 934,478 turned in absentee ballots to their local clerk's offices at the end of early voting Monday, said CBS Detroit, citing Benson. Benson expects thousands more to vote at the polls, it said. Biden is facing protests from critics for his handling of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, with many Arab and Muslim Americans as well as progressive Democrats in Michigan vowing to vote “uncommitted” in protest of his administration’s policy. “I was proud today to walk in and pull a Democratic ballot and vote ‘uncommitted.’ We must protect our democracy. We must make sure that our government is about us, about the people,” Tlaib said in a video posted by the Listen to Michigan campaign. Farah Khan, a 47-year-old Pakistani American who is an IT professional from Northville, Michigan and has been participating in the "Abandon Biden" campaign actively, said she did not vote for Biden, adding that her message is "anything but Biden." "We are abandoning Biden because of his policies, because he abandoned his people. He abandoned Michigan. He abandoned Muslims. He abandoned the minorities," she told Anadolu in front of Miller Elementary School in Dearborn. "He took our vote…And now he just turned around and stabbed us in the back," she said. "And he's not listening to us. And he's not calling for a cease-fire (in Gaza). So we are abandoning him just like he abandoned us." (Footage by Mostafa Bassim /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)