Glaude urged black voters to blank the presidential ballot in 2016

Evidence

We need to do something that bold. Something that will upset the entire game. In 2016, we should call for an “electoral blank-out.” We vote in the national election for the presidency of the United States, but we leave the ballot blank or write in “none of the above.” This isn’t your standard call for a third-party candidate or an independent black political thrust. Nor is it a rejection of our sacred duty to vote. Exercising the franchise is sacred. Actually, I want black people to turn out for the election in record numbers without Obama on the ticket, but give our attention to other issues on the ballot. We should vote in congressional, state, and local elections. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 615

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to judging how the ‘blank-out ballot’ proposal aged: readers need the exact original proposal to weigh its post-2016 record.
• QUESTION: How did this 2016 proposal fare given that Trump won the presidency with a narrow margin? Would blanking have changed that outcome? This is the natural follow-up for a reader assessing the argument’s shelf life.