Central Elections Committee lays out rules for irregular ballots

The Central Elections Committee reports that it has received numerous complaints about ballot slips that have been vandalized or whose format differs from the committee-approved version.

In order to preserve the integrity of the elections, committee chairman Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer instructs polling station committees as follows: Any ballot slip that has a small hole in it or that has been scribbled on with the clear intent to render it invalid, or whose format is different from the official one, should be retained by the polling station secretary.

If by the end of the vote count, the polling station finds just one of either kind of irregular ballot slip, it will be regarded as invalid. But if there are two or more examples, they should be regarded as valid. In all events, all irregularities are to be noted in the protocols.

—  Sue Surkes