Voting was brisk Tuesday afternoon at the polls in the Halamish neighborhood of the small Negev city of Arad – but that was the exception, rather than the norm, for the way Israel’s 2021 national elections were going elsewhere around the country.
Even with special accommodations made for coronavirus patients, who were given the opportunity to vote at special “drive-up” polling stations, and assistance even rendered to those who were hospitalized so they, too, could participate in their democratic privilege, voter turnout was still much lighter than usual.
By 2 pm, 34.6 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots; by 4 pm, only 42.3 percent of eligible voters had exercised their democratic right to vote. In the evening hours the turnout finally surpassed the 2009 level, which was 59.7 at that hour; this time around voter turnout at 8 pm was 60.9 percent — 4,008,422 of eligible voters — according to the Central Elections Committee.
In 2009, the total voter turnout was 65.2 percent.
Apathy has grown in the face of repeated trips to the polls; this time around makes it the fourth Israeli national election in two years.
Natalie S. and her husband Michael decided to take their children to the zoo in lieu of casting their ballots. “It’s more fun,” she told JewishPress.com. “Not voting this time. They are all the same. They’re all lousy.”
With a major sandstorm affecting air quality and rocket fire targeting Be’er Sheva around 7 pm, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting the Negev city to motivate Likud voters to go to the polls, low turnout may mean some parties may not make it past the electoral threshold to enter the Knesset this time around.
