Quarantined coronavirus voters urged to show caution

The quarantined voters will be given special voting kits with gloves to make sure their ballots do not spread the virus if they have it.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Central Elections Committee director-general Orly Ades displays a special voting kit for Israelis quarantined due to possible exposure to the Coronavirus (photo credit: CENTRAL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE)
Central Elections Committee director-general Orly Ades displays a special voting kit for Israelis quarantined due to possible exposure to the Coronavirus
(photo credit: CENTRAL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE)
Central Elections Committee director-general Orly Ades called upon the 1,400 Israelis who she said are currently quarantined due to exposure to the coronavirus to be careful not to take advantage of their voting right.
The Health Ministry has given the quarantined the right to leave their homes only to go to 10 to 12 special polling stations that will be created for them in tents that will be erected in cities across the country. They are not permitted to take public transportation or to go anywhere else, and they may not leave their home if they have a fever or a cough.
“Those voters must understand that we will do everything possible to ensure that their voting does not harm other voters,” Ades said at a Knesset press conference. “It is up to them to display personal and ethical responsibility.”
The quarantined voters will be given special voting kits with gloves to make sure their ballots do not spread the virus if they have it. The special ballots will be put in double envelopes and counted separately from the double enveloped votes of IDF soldiers, emissaries and prisoners.
The special polling stations will be manned by some 60 workers of Magen David Adom who Ades praised as medical professionals displaying the Zionist spirit of self-sacrifice.
Ades said it was “ironic” that there would be voters casting ballots wearing masks after the election was advanced in order to not fall on the holiday of Purim when Jews traditionally wear costumes.
Results will be available Wednesday night after polls close on Monday night. Ades said she could not predict whether turnout would be harmed by the coronavirus or the fact that Israel was holding its third election in under a year.
“We want to believe this is the last one,” she said. “People have to realize that this will probably be the decisive election, so even if they are tired, disgusted or complain that the first two didn’t matter, they still need to come vote and have an impact on their lives and their future.”