Over 5.6 million Israelis will go to the polls today

In electing Israel’s 19th gov’t, approximately 1,000 polling stations will open at 7 A.M. Tuesday in towns, cities, hospitals, & prisons through out the country.

 

The polls will open at 7 A.M. on Tuesday for Israel to elect its 19th Knesset, with more than 5.65 million Israelis eligible to vote.

Golani soldiers voting on the snowbound Mount Hermon Monday.

Golani soldiers voting on the snowbound Mount Hermon Monday. – Photo: AFP

The approximately 1,000 polling stations located in towns, hospitals and prisons around the country will stay open until 10 P.M. in most locales, but will close at 8 P.M. in small towns and hospitals.

To cast a ballot, voters will need to present an Israeli ID card, a valid passport or a valid driver’s license. There is no need to bring the postcard telling you where your poling station is located.

For anyone who didn’t receive such a postcard and isn’t sure where to vote, the Central Elections Committee has both a website ‏(www.bechirot.gov.il‏) and a telephone hotline, 1-800-200-137.

By law, any voter who finds himself more than 20 kilometers from the town where his polling station is located on Election Day is entitled to a free ride on public buses or trains. To get your free ticket, you must present either your ID card, including the insert listing your address, or another form of ID plus the postcard listing your polling station.

Voters with disabilities can vote at any one of hundreds of specially adapted polling stations.

In this election, for the first time, the public will be able to follow the counting of ballots in real time on the government’s Memshal Zamin website, or using a special cell phone application. An estimated 85 percent of the ballots will be counted overnight, with the rest counted the next day. After all the votes are counted, the Central Elections Committee will publish the results.

 

View original HAARETZ publication at: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/more-than-5-6-million-israelis-to-go-to-the-polls-1.495442