While the US worries over whether US President Trump will try to influence the outcome of the upcoming mid-term elections by trying to pass what he calls the “Save America Act,” which would, by most estimates, reduce the number of primarily Democratic eligible voters countrywide, Israel is now in the midst of a brouhaha about who can vote in our upcoming elections as well.

Analysts in the US predict a potential Democratic rout in the mid-terms scheduled for November and, the thinking goes, the opposition might try whatever it can get away with to bend the voting in their direction.  In Israel, with up to 70% of the population expressing their opinion that it is time for a new Prime Minister, voices here for the first time in my memory are raising questions about who should be entitled to vote in our upcoming elections as well.

Voting here is, of course, limited to those who are citizens and, therefore, would have their names listed on the polling records of eligible voters.   Unlike the US, here one must vote in person at the polling place on election day to cast a vote.  Exceptions are made for people on active duty in field conditions, diplomats abroad, people who are hospitalized, etc., but in those cases the “voting booth” as it were is brought to them so that they can cast their ballots.

Therefore, one needs to be physically in the country to vote and be present at the polling station. To address the needs of those who are not as mobile, in all elections since COVID-19, ballot boxes have also been placed in senior living and protected housing locations as well. Unlike the US, there is no option for mail-in ballots.

Voting here is........

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