The Times of Israel is liveblogging Israel’s election day events through Tuesday and into Wednesday.
Some 6.3 million Israelis are eligible to cast votes Tuesday as Israel goes to the polls for the second time in five months, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition following April’s poll. Netanyahu is seeking support for a new right-wing mandate and challenger Benny Gantz is looking to unseat him.
Reports surface of fake tallies and voter identity theft at some polls
The Central Elections Committee reports several additional incidents at polling stations.
In Yarka, voting was briefly suspended when the station’s head noticed ballot envelopes had disappeared. The regional elections chief, who is always a serving judge, arrived at the scene to investigate. Police have also been called in.
In Beit Shemesh, a voter arrived at the poll to discover she’d already voted. She filed a police complaint.
There were also several attempts by party observers at polling stations to film the procedures. “Police have dealt with all cases,” the elections committee’s Orly Adas says.
Separately, Channel 13 reports that all the staff at a polling station in Fureidis have been replaced by the Central Elections Committee amid concern that fictitious vote tallies were being reported.
At ’emergency meeting,’ Netanyahu warns Arabs set to win 15 Knesset seats
At an “emergency meeting” of senior Likud officials to consider the party’s response to a purported rush on the polls by “Arabs and leftists,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns that the Arab Joint List is on track to win 15 seats.
If it does, it would be the highest-ever showing for Arab candidates, and more or less in keeping with the community’s actual numbers among the Israeli adult population.
Shaked says Otzma Yehudit masquerading as Yamina in ‘illegal’ vote poaching bid
Yamina’s chair Ayelet Shaked says the extremist Otzma Yehudit party has launched an “illegal” text message campaign pretending to come from her party that is calling on voters to switch their votes to Otzma Yehudit.
In a screen capture from a phone that she shared on Twitter, a text message purporting to come from Yamina reads: “Dear Mordechai Ifrach, at our last consultation we decided to give two [Knesset] seats to Otzma Yehudit. Please act accordingly.”
The message is signed “Yamina staff.”
“A crime by Otzma Yehudit,” Shaked tweets in response. “An urgent petition was filed to the Central Elections Committee. All morning they’ve been spreading lies.”
After a similar previous message claimed that Nobel-laureate Yamina supporter Prof. Israel Aumann had switched his support to Otzma Yehudit, Shaked wrote: “Prof. Aumann asked to clarify that he’s calling to vote for Yamina.”
Turnout hits 26.8% by noon, 2 points higher than in April
Voter turnout hits 26.8 percent of eligible voters by noon, the Central Elections Committee’s director Orly Adas says.
That’s 2 points higher than April’s 24.8% by this hour, an “impressive trend,” according to Adas.
The latest figure means 1,713,936 voters have already voted, according to the committee’s figures, drawn from reports from 8,652 polling stations, about 80% of the total, as well as a survey of 513 representative stations nationwide.
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