With just 15 days left for Israelis to go to the polls, the Central Electoral Committee (CEC) on Monday unveiled plans to allow 37,000–40,000 coronavirus patients and another 50,000 in quarantine their right to vote. on Election Day.
CEC Director General Orly Ades told a press conference that the NIS committee’s budget was 282 million higher than the previous election campaign and will be at the level of NIS 674 million.
Ades said the increase in funding was needed to establish more polling stations, hire more staff and implement sanitation measures to protect the health of voters.
The total number and location of polling stations designated for COVID patients and others alone remains uncertain as Israel moved to open up their economy, a move whose impact on morbidity was not yet known. .
The committee highlighted the ability to set up polling stations for patients and others on their own inside buses that will stop during Election Day to put some pressure on other stations.
The CEC also offers a shuttle service for COVID-19 patients who are alone at home. Patients will need to register online in advance and record the time left from home to a designated polling station and back.
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Out-of-bus election staff changed to polling station ahead of election on 23 March
(Photo: Haim Levi)
The committee is also examining a similar picture for other Israelis who are separating themselves at home, but eventually, they may have to reach their designated polling station independently.
Voting in hospitals will only be possible for patients who are mobile and have access to the polling station in each ward. Bed voters can use help from other patients in the ward.
Polling stations will be placed in state-run coronavirus isolation hotels so that voters can exercise their rights without violating quarantine.
Ades also noted that the CEC was considering sending ballot boxes at Ben Gurion Airport for Israelis returning from abroad on Election Day.