Blue and White cries foul over alleged ‘systematic’ ballot vandalism

Police are investigating what some Blue and White officials are claiming amounts to a systematic campaign to vandalize — and thus disqualify — Blue and White ballots around the country.

Multiple parties, from far-left to far-right, have claimed ballots were damaged, hidden or missing at a few of the 10,000 polling stations around the country. But according to Blue and White activists in a complaint filed with the Central Elections Committee, its ballot slips were being “systematically” damaged.

Elections Committee chair Justice Hanan Melcer says that if police find evidence of widespread vandalism meant to disqualify Blue and White votes, he would instruct polling stations to count damaged or marked ballots for the party as valid.

In a video, party no. 2 Yair Lapid responds to the report, urging voters to carefully check their ballot slip to ensure it isn’t marked in any way, in order to ensure it won’t be disqualified during the vote count tonight.

“I’m here at Blue and White headquarters,” Lapid says in the video. “We’re getting reports from all over the country about attempts to vandalize pey-hey slips,” he adds, using the two Hebrew letters that identify the party on the slips.

“They’re writing ‘x’ on the back, or some other small mark. That’s enough to disqualify the ballot. This is an organized effort to undermine the democratic process, and we must stop it. Anyone who goes to vote, make sure your slip is clean. If you see something like this, report it to the police or the ballot station committee. This is an attempt to undermine the democratic process on the part of parties that are afraid we’re going to win the election.”