Coalition advances bill to remove ballot boxes from assisted-living facilities where voters lean against PM

The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approves for second and third readings legislation governing October’s Knesset election after voting to end the placement of polling booths in elderly living facilities, a move the opposition has denounced as naked partisan politics.

The measure would affect between 35,000 and 37,000 people – about one Knesset seat’s worth – committee member Oded Forer, whose hawkish-secularist Yisrael Beytenu party is seen as likely to suffer from the removal of the polling booths.

It refers to people living in retirement or assisted-living facilities – not in nursing homes, where mobile booths have long been stationed like those in hospitals.

“This is a jarring final note for this Knesset term. For years, election laws were passed with broad agreement. Unfortunately, we are forced to vote against this bill because you refused to ensure accessible and fair elections for every citizen,” says Yesh Atid MK and committee member Karin Elharrar.

The push to do away with the polling booths that were stationed in old-age homes in the last two elections came even as the coalition sought to expand voting for an estimated 200 people who are performing national service abroad and seen as more likely to support the coalition, which was ultimately omitted from the final draft of the legislation.

The bill, which could receive its final readings in the plenum as early as tonight, also includes a new transparency requirement for campaign materials created or substantially altered using artificial intelligence in a way that could mislead voters to be clearly labeled, in an effort to combat AI-generated political disinformation ahead of the October 27 election.