Everyone is waiting for them: what exactly are the double envelopes and how many seats are they worth?

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In the Knesset, the counting of the double envelopes (about 450,000 votes) will begin tonight (Wednesday). Voters included in this quorum: IDF soldiers in regular service, reserve and permanent, police and border guards, guards, prisoners and detainees, Israeli diplomatic representatives abroad, people with disabilities, hospitalized, verified in Corona and isolated, as well as Israelis who returned from abroad on The elections and voted at Ben Gurion Airport.

Early estimates were that about 600,000 people would vote in double envelopes, but in light of the fact that far fewer verified and isolated patients voted on the “vote and go” sites, the number of actual voters dropped to about 450,000.

A tour of the logistics warehouse of the Election Commission // Photo: Yoni Rickner

The process of counting the votes in the double envelopes is much more complex and lengthy than ordinary citizens’ votes at their polling stations, because election committee employees must first check whether anyone who voted in a double envelope at a military base or at Ben Gurion Airport did not exercise their right to vote at all polling stations. In a case where a voter is found to have voted in two addresses, the double envelope is disqualified.

Once the testing process is complete, the votes are counted as in any regular ballot box. 1,000 staff of the Electoral Commission check the results of the vote, and this process is done under the supervision of election supervisors and under the supervision of party representatives. The Yesh Atid faction has announced that it has appointed four MKs on its behalf (Orna Barbibai, Meir Cohen, Miki Levy and Meirav Cohen) who will monitor the vote count to prevent forgeries and mishaps.

Ballots in the Corona Department in Sheba Tel Hashomer // Photo: Yossi Zeliger

Election Commission CEO Adv. Orly Adas estimated that the counting of all the votes in the double envelopes would end by Friday morning, at which time it would be possible to publish the final results.

All parties are eagerly awaiting the end of the counting of the double envelopes, because those 450,000 votes that have not yet been counted constitute about 12 seats (in the 23rd Knesset elections, the person who measured the seat was 38,000 votes). The big question is how the votes will be divided between the parties, and it is possible that they will decide the election results.

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