7.3 million Israelis eligible to vote, 100,000 workers will staff the election, CEC says

By Ariela Karmel

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Ballot boxes are prepared for Israel’s upcoming general election at the Central Elections Committee’s logistics center near Shoham, October 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Around 7.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote in Tuesday’s election, the Central Elections Committee says in a statement two days ahead of Tuesday’s national election.

The committee does not specify if that includes Israeli citizens living abroad. Israel does not allow absentee voting except in rare cases, and there have been extensive efforts this year to encourage expats to fly in for election day.

The committee’s budget for the election is NIS 690 million (about $222 million).

There will be 12,018 polling stations and 18,000 ballot boxes across the country. The committee has printed 450 million ballots — about 11.5 million for each party list.

Around 100,000 workers will be on duty on election day, and around 15,000 cameras will be used by election integrity inspectors at polling stations to document the vote and report irregularities.

“All of this is part of the preparations to ensure a proper, accessible and supervised election process that enables the public to exercise its right to vote,” the committee says.