Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the State Control Committee on the preparations for possible general elections during the corona crisis, Central Elections Committee Director-General Orly Adas said, “We are working on a plan for designated ‘vote and go’ areas for corona patients and people in quarantine.”
Adas added that the Elections Committee was also developing a mobile polling station that will “come to the car” and thus allow corona patients to vote in an isolated space. She said that despite the coronavirus, elections will be held in one day, but the Elections Committee will have to add more polling stations and staff across the country, spread out lines, and launch an information campaign.
“We have proven in our committee that we can handle successfully any mission given to us,” Adas said. “The law says 90 days, and we can still handle an election in 90 days, no more but not less than that, despite the huge challenges.”
Adas told the committee, which is chaired by MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid-Telem) that the 90-day minimum period before a national election was set in 1968 when Israel had a fraction of the population it does now, and the corona pandemic will make it even more difficult to hold an election in the minimum time. Nevertheless, she believes her troops are ready for the challenge.
Dr. Udi Kaliner, Deputy Head of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry, told the committee that “drive-in” style voting is not an option because corona patients will not be permitted to arrive at a voting area without the Health Ministry knowing where they stopped along the way. “Other voting alternatives must be found,” he said.
Adas said in response that the voting arrangements are determined by the Elections Committee and not the Health Ministry. The demand to accompany corona patients and people in quarantine to polling stations is “unrealistic,” she said, adding “The Health Ministry cannot give instructions that cannot be carried out.”
Chairman Shelah said, “We must act to change the legislation and allow the addition of a second address (for people to vote at – DI). This will prevent unnecessary movement of people and will reduce the fear of infection.”
“The work of the Central Elections Committee is vital, and it is the basis for trust in democracy,” Shelah said. “In the United States, there is a loss of trust in the democratic process. Here we are also on the path to delegitimizing the elections. This is a global wind that’s blowing, and therefore the State Control Committee will give the Central Elections Committee its broadest support.”
Another problem facing the election plan next year is the fact that while the law calls for setting a date 90 days following the Knesset’s failure to meet the deadline for passing a state budget – which will be December 23, making the target date March 23, 2021. That day falls on a Tuesday, followed by the Passover Seder Saturday night. It means that the vote count would certainly be delayed by the intermediary days of Passover when many traditional Jews do not work.