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The committee is expected to increase the number of polling places from 11,000 to 14,000 – some of which will be reserved for voters who are in quarantine or who tested positive for the virus – and to reduce the number of voters assigned to each.
In March of this year, 18 polling places were opened for 4,500 people in quarantine, but more caution is now considered necessary.
Vote-counting also promises to be a challenge. By law, all votes must be tallied within eight days after the election. The week-long Passover holiday, which begins four days after Election Day, could affect the work, which is expected to be greater than usual due to the greater number of special, “double envelope” ballots that are anticipated. These include the votes of hospital patients.
Joshua Shuman
Politics and virus make strange bedfellows
With just over 80 days before Israelis go to the polls for the fourth time in two years, the coronavirus and the ongoing vaccination operation will play a part in electioneering. The debate among experts is focused on how large an impact this will have on the process and thus, on the final results.
The coronavirus pandemic injects itself into two major categories: technical and political.
On a technical level, Israel’s Central Elections Committee is currently drawing up plans to add around 3,000 new polling stations to the existing network of 11,000 stations. Some 350 of the new stations will be placed in nursing homes and other facilities catering to the elderly, while the others will be spread through current stations to diminish crowding.