Videos > How do Israeli Elections work? An ISRAEL MATTERS Special! How do Israeli Elections work? An ISRAEL MATTERS Special! Pesach Wolicki 217 views • 7 likes • 2 comments 5 years ago • 49:12 min
Transcript [00:02] hello everyone and after a long hiatus [00:04] welcome back to israel matters i [00:07] am rabbi pesachwalicki and with me as [00:09] always and once again [00:10] is my dear friend uh security analyst [00:14] tour guide military expert you name it [00:17] um elliot showdown how you doing elliott [00:20] i'm good how are you pesa [00:21] i'm doing very well thank god it's been [00:24] a very very busy time [00:25] in life i have a wedding of one of my [00:27] daughters coming up [00:28] congratulations celebrated about mitzvah [00:31] of uh my youngest daughter so [00:33] things are busy how are things up in [00:35] estrella [00:36] good i feel my democracy is stronger [00:40] because i exercised it today [00:43] which is why we're here yes as you as [00:45] everyone saw when you clicked on this [00:47] video the title of this is how [00:48] israeli elections work and that's what [00:52] we're going to do in this video today [00:54] uh we're each going to take a part of [00:55] this uh i'm going to start if you don't [00:58] mind elliot [00:58] not at all okay um i besides voting [01:02] today [01:03] as you did and i have been in a [01:06] volunteer way [01:08] uh a part of the election process [01:12] from the administrative side all the way [01:14] through the counting of votes and the [01:16] certifying of votes [01:18] this is it's due to some people that i [01:21] know who asked me to [01:22] fill this role a few election cycles [01:24] back [01:25] this time they had enough people locally [01:27] and they didn't need me but i was [01:29] you know i was contacted i told them i [01:30] was available but i've been through the [01:32] whole process from the side [01:34] of the people managing a ballot station [01:37] and counting the votes and how the [01:39] process works so what i'm going to do [01:41] i've never seen that oh it's fascinating [01:44] and [01:44] it was especially fascinating to me i'll [01:46] say just again my last sentence of [01:48] introduction [01:49] in watching all of the discussion around [01:51] the controversies of election integrity [01:54] and how ballots are counted in the [01:55] united states [01:56] in the november 2020 election my mind [01:59] kept going back to what we do here [02:01] because i know it intimately [02:03] so i'd like to just lay that out [02:06] over the course the next few minutes [02:08] just talk about from when someone [02:09] walks into the station to vote until [02:12] the votes are counted at the end of the [02:14] day [02:16] uh just how the process works from a [02:18] technical [02:19] perspective and then i'm going to turn [02:20] it over to you elliott and you're going [02:22] to discuss what happens next how does [02:24] the electoral system work because [02:26] there's a lot of confusion americans [02:28] have [02:28] because of how different our system is [02:31] uh so [02:32] so you'll you'll go through that whole [02:33] process so [02:35] here's the way it works in israel [02:39] uh we have only election day [02:42] uh there is no there's really no way to [02:44] vote early [02:46] or to vote late everyone votes on [02:48] election day [02:50] there are only [02:53] what we would call absentee ballots or [02:55] mail-in ballots [02:56] only for people working in the [02:58] diplomatic corps [03:01] israelis who have [03:04] also sort of ngo but somehow government [03:08] related jobs [03:09] uh outside of israel uh there are many [03:12] jews [03:13] there are many israelis for instance who [03:14] serve roles in diaspora jewish [03:17] communities on behalf of the state of [03:19] israel that are kind of non-profit but [03:20] are connected [03:21] people in positions like that can vote [03:24] it's very carefully guarded [03:26] who can do this and those are really the [03:29] only people whose votes [03:31] get sent in through some sort of mail uh [03:34] processing system uh everyone else just [03:37] they have to vote in uh consulates and [03:40] embassies [03:41] right oh yeah it's a very carefully [03:43] guarded process let's just say that [03:46] and and that's how they vote soldiers [03:49] who are [03:49] who are on army bases vote on their army [03:52] base but [03:53] uh their vote in a municipal election [03:56] they even vote in a municipal election [03:57] on their army base [03:59] and and those votes also sometimes take [04:01] some time to come in because they get [04:03] credited not to the army base but to the [04:05] city [04:06] or the the precinct as it were a very [04:09] similar system in terms of precincts [04:12] to what you have in the states that'll [04:13] be easy to explain uh it'll get credited [04:16] to there so for example my son [04:18] um who happens to be doing reserve duty [04:21] today [04:22] he has a two-day reserve duty uh he just [04:25] uh he was discharged from the army last [04:27] year but he's voting on an army base [04:28] today because he happens to be there [04:30] today he couldn't vote early [04:32] that vote will get transferred back to [04:35] our town [04:36] and counted among the votes of our city [04:39] because that's where he lives so he is [04:41] i live in the city of beijing she is a [04:43] beit shemesh voter okay that's uh that's [04:45] just how [04:46] it works in terms of counting the votes [04:48] but let's go through the process so what [04:49] happens is [04:50] um elliot chodof wakes up in the morning [04:52] he takes his [04:53] uh he has to have a photo id with him uh [04:56] that could either be a driver's license [04:58] a passport [04:59] or a what a national id card israel has [05:03] national id cards that everyone gets [05:05] from the age of 16 [05:07] that have all the basic information on [05:08] them so you don't need to have a [05:10] driver's license you don't need to have [05:11] a passport [05:13] because everyone's going to have one of [05:14] these national id cards and without a [05:16] photo id [05:17] there is no way [05:20] anyone is ever going to vote there's no [05:23] chance in the world [05:24] and now that man's gonna may i add even [05:27] in a small community like mine [05:29] where everybody knows everybody when i [05:32] went [05:33] in and and everybody on the on the board [05:35] sitting there knows me [05:37] i had to give my id and take off my mask [05:40] to show them my face absolutely right [05:44] right well there was probably also [05:46] someone in the room who you didn't know [05:48] there probably yes one person there [05:50] right yes but but the point is that [05:54] in this small community where everybody [05:56] knows everybody [05:57] there's still no slack of okay i know [06:01] you [06:02] you know pass that's a very good point [06:05] because that's not something i would [06:06] have [06:06] i would have thought to say because i [06:08] live in for israeli standards a busy [06:10] city [06:11] that has a lot of different population [06:12] groups and i i when i [06:14] served as a as a as a [06:17] polling station manager i didn't know [06:20] almost anybody who came into that [06:22] polling station i knew a few people a [06:23] few [06:23] faces i recognized that's an interesting [06:25] point now i mentioned [06:27] that there would have been there would [06:28] have had to be one person in the room [06:29] who didn't know you now why did i say [06:31] that [06:31] this is another very important feature [06:33] of israeli elections [06:35] that the staff in a polling station [06:38] will never be it will never be only [06:41] locals now [06:42] most of the staff everyone but one in [06:45] every polling station will be local [06:46] people they're volunteers [06:48] or there's sometimes they're college [06:49] students who took a one-day course [06:51] you know from the interior ministry to [06:53] help out but [06:54] everyone in the polling station other [06:56] than one person will be locals [06:58] and there will always be one person who [07:01] represents the interior ministry [07:04] who is there who [07:07] specifically is not from the community [07:10] and does not reveal their party [07:11] affiliation no one this is a person who [07:14] comes in from the outside [07:15] and that's in order to make sure that a [07:18] local community [07:19] isn't playing games with their votes no [07:22] cronyism [07:22] exactly so there will be someone and [07:24] that's why i said like when you said [07:25] everyone there knows me [07:26] there's no way there has to be one [07:28] there's going to be a person in the room [07:29] who's not from your town [07:30] and has no real connection to your town [07:32] okay so here's what happens eliot chodof [07:34] walks into the [07:35] to the polling station and he shows his [07:38] id card now when he shows his id card [07:40] hands them i'm sorry you have to hand it [07:43] to them they'll hold it they'll look at [07:44] you they'll make sure it's the same [07:45] person [07:46] then here's what they do they will have [07:49] a booklet [07:50] and this isn't done on a computer [07:52] everything is done by hand you will not [07:54] see a computer in the room [07:56] everything's done by hand he will have a [07:58] printed [07:59] what looks like a a pad of paper that's [08:01] printed [08:03] and it will have the names of every [08:05] eligible voter [08:07] who's who's voting in that precinct now [08:09] for a town like yours is probably just [08:11] everyone's voting in one [08:12] place and it's just one little town [08:13] correct in a town like mine that's [08:15] busier [08:15] let me describe what happened so i went [08:17] down to a local school [08:19] and i went into the school and there [08:22] were about six classrooms on the ground [08:24] floor of the school [08:26] that were each one of the precincts now [08:28] the precincts are very small [08:29] the people who live in the in the [08:31] building next to me i live in like a [08:33] townhouse complex [08:34] uh with multi-story homes that are kind [08:36] of all built into these these build [08:38] these connected buildings [08:39] the person in the bil there was someone [08:40] in the building next to me who was [08:42] voting in a different precinct [08:44] the precincts can be just a few hundred [08:46] voters four or five hundred voters in a [08:48] precinct [08:49] very small so they really subdivided [08:51] into very very small [08:53] balloting stations so again in this one [08:55] school [08:56] there were about six of these balloting [08:58] stations and that's just for my [08:59] neighborhood [09:01] so we walk into the building we find the [09:03] right room we go in [09:04] i gave my id card uh they look at the id [09:08] card and then we again they pull out [09:10] this [09:11] this printed stapled book that has [09:14] the names and id numbers and address of [09:17] every single person [09:18] who's in that balloting station in that [09:21] we'll call it a precinct [09:22] for for ease of understanding when they [09:25] find my name [09:27] in the list the person who [09:31] who took my id card who finds my name in [09:33] the list then calls out [09:35] what number voter i am i think i was [09:37] number 405 [09:39] uh in my in my uh list he calls out the [09:43] the voter number the reason he calls it [09:46] out [09:46] is that there are two copies of this [09:48] book always [09:50] there is not one copy there are always [09:52] two copies [09:53] and two different people in the room at [09:56] two different tables [09:57] have the book in front of them okay [10:00] he calls out the name and he strikes a [10:03] line through the name to say that i am [10:05] voting and the other person [10:10] who has the other book also strikes a [10:12] line through my name [10:13] to say that i am voting [10:17] okay now he does that when he hands me [10:19] an envelope [10:20] okay so let me let me talk about the [10:23] people in the room now because i've just [10:24] mentioned there's different people in [10:25] the room [10:26] the people in the room are placed there [10:27] they're not just random volunteers [10:30] they also represent the political [10:32] parties that have an interest in that [10:34] particular [10:35] precinct now you might think that every [10:36] political party has an interest in every [10:37] precinct [10:38] not really i mean theoretically they do [10:42] but they don't really uh because you [10:45] know [10:45] what type of people live in a certain [10:47] area is going to influence [10:49] what people are concerned with so for [10:51] example [10:52] um in a lot of the arab towns arab [10:55] israeli towns [10:57] some of the uh non-arab [11:01] parties that are concerned with election [11:03] integrity for that town will make sure [11:05] to send some of their volunteers [11:08] to volunteer to be poll workers in those [11:10] polling stations [11:12] and they will be there as observers now [11:13] according to israeli law any registered [11:15] political party [11:16] can have an observer in any polling [11:18] station they want [11:20] there all day long now so you might be [11:23] in a polling station where there's a [11:24] table with four or five people just [11:26] sitting there watching the action [11:28] and they're as close to the action as [11:30] any of the poll workers [11:32] they can ask the person who took your id [11:34] card if they could look at the id card [11:38] meaning they can say hey let me take a [11:40] look at that id card now if they do that [11:41] every time they're going to just [11:42] irritate people [11:43] but they can question anything they can [11:45] look at anything at any moment [11:47] they can they can call out anything and [11:49] if there's a real complaint that [11:50] complaint gets registered there is a law [11:52] enforcement [11:53] officer at the front door of every of [11:56] every polling station [11:57] and that person can be called in if [11:58] there's a suspicion of fraud i once [12:00] caught someone [12:01] committing election fraud and i'll get [12:02] to how that happened [12:04] um so so the people who are working the [12:08] tables [12:08] also are represented representative of [12:12] different parties [12:13] okay so they're there so so this person [12:16] calls out the name he strikes the name [12:18] off the off the list the other person [12:20] strikes it in their book also and those [12:22] books are always kept separate [12:23] you can never there can never be only [12:26] one poll worker in the room at any time [12:28] from the morning till the end of the day [12:29] there always have to be multiple people [12:30] in the room so that [12:31] no one's ever left alone okay the [12:35] the person who took my id card and [12:36] struck my name off the list hands me an [12:39] envelope now i'm going to share my [12:40] screen for a moment just to show you [12:42] what this envelope looks like [12:47] and here we go so this is what the [12:50] envelope looks like [12:51] okay now let's take a look at this [12:53] envelope very carefully [12:55] you'll notice that it has signatures [12:58] in the bottom corner here now these [13:00] signatures [13:01] are actually handwritten signatures [13:04] every single one of these envelopes [13:05] before they open the polling station in [13:07] the morning [13:09] the the person from the interior [13:11] ministry who's managing the polling [13:13] station [13:14] has to sign all of these envelopes plus [13:17] one of the local people who's been [13:19] assigned to manage the polling station [13:21] with him [13:22] so that's where there are those two [13:23] signatures that those were signed [13:25] that morning they could not have been [13:27] pre-signed meaning if they when they [13:29] take them out of the box in the morning [13:30] if they're already signed [13:31] they're invalid and that's why it's [13:33] always two people the other person is [13:34] going to say hey those are signed [13:36] already [13:36] they're signed on the spot by the poll [13:39] station manager who's going to be there [13:41] all day long [13:43] okay if an envelope doesn't have that [13:46] signature on it it's not going to be [13:47] valid later [13:48] this signature here is not a real [13:50] signature [13:51] uh this is a this is a printed signature [13:53] that just shows that this is this year's [13:56] this election cycles envelopes okay so [13:59] it's printed on there by the person [14:00] on the national level who manages who's [14:02] who approved of this election so it [14:04] can't be some old envelope or [14:06] very hard to forge this no one knows [14:07] exactly what the signature is going to [14:08] look like [14:09] until it comes out that day so this is [14:12] the envelope they hand you [14:14] they hand you an envelope now in the [14:15] background of this picture you'll also [14:17] see this uh [14:18] this case that has all these little [14:22] pieces of paper in them with letters on [14:23] them um and [14:25] uh what happens in an israeli election [14:28] is you don't have [14:30] a a list of different offices you're [14:32] voting for like you have in the states [14:34] there's nothing [14:35] down ballot there isn't even the name of [14:38] the person you're [14:39] you want as your prime minister what you [14:41] have on these [14:42] on these uh actually some of them do [14:45] some of them do they'll have a name [14:47] the parties can write what they want [14:48] let's take a look at one of those right [14:49] now [14:50] hold on a second let me just get it [14:53] i i borrowed a few when i voted today [14:56] yeah i [14:56] here's a here's a good picture here we [14:58] go so here's a picture while i'm [15:00] while i'm sharing my screen i figured [15:01] i'd just throw it up here right this is [15:03] me holding the [15:04] the um the piece of paper that i put in [15:07] uh i took a picture of this this is a [15:10] liquid [15:11] piece of paper now every party has [15:13] letters [15:14] that are just letters that they choose [15:16] and they have to get approved by the [15:18] nation [15:18] by the interior ministry that no one [15:20] else is using them already [15:22] and those become the letters that [15:24] represent [15:25] their party the reason this was done [15:27] originally in israel's history [15:30] was that a lot of the immigrants coming [15:32] in didn't know hebrew [15:34] and they didn't want it to have to be [15:36] words that have to be read [15:37] so this way they could just advertise to [15:39] people you know our party is letter alef [15:41] our party is letter bet [15:43] our party is letter gimmel and the first [15:45] elections in israel it really was just [15:46] single letters [15:48] and then with time different parties [15:49] formed parties merged [15:51] in fact the reason that the likud is [15:52] three letters is because the likud party [15:54] way back [15:56] uh decades ago was actually a blend of [15:59] three parties and they took all three [16:00] letters and they put them there that's [16:01] why there's three letters this isn't a [16:03] word [16:03] it's just three letters that represent [16:05] the likud party [16:06] led by binyamin netanyahu and that's [16:09] what it says down here in this text it [16:11] says the likud party [16:12] led by netanyahu but it's not necessary [16:14] to say that this is just [16:16] this is a valid piece of paper and these [16:18] pieces of paper are in this big tray [16:20] and as you see there's some other [16:22] parties and there's dozens of them [16:24] there's parties that even i as a [16:26] politically well-informed israeli [16:27] have never heard of there's ton people [16:30] making and we'll never hear of [16:31] and we'll never hear of it we'll never [16:32] hear of again why these people create [16:34] these political parties and run [16:36] no one has any idea now you'll notice in [16:37] this picture there's also one [16:40] cell here that has blank pieces of paper [16:43] it is an option if someone wants to log [16:46] a protest vote [16:47] the way to do it is to put a blank piece [16:50] of paper in the envelope now let me [16:52] explain something [16:53] if your person does not put a blank [16:54] piece of paper in and just leaves the [16:56] envelope blank [16:57] leaves the envelope empty when the votes [17:00] get counted which i'll get to in a [17:01] moment [17:03] it will not be counted as a protest vote [17:05] it won't go [17:06] into the official numbers that there [17:07] were x number of blank votes that were a [17:10] protest vote [17:11] that envelope will simply be discarded [17:14] as invalid [17:15] so there's a difference between an [17:16] invalid vote [17:18] and a valid vote for nobody which is a [17:21] protest vote and that's why we have [17:22] these [17:23] these blank pieces of paper here okay so [17:26] that's an option as well so [17:27] everyone takes the piece of paper that [17:29] they're voting for they put it into [17:32] the envelope they put it into the [17:35] envelope that we just showed [17:37] uh and this is all behind you you go [17:39] behind the screen you're by yourself in [17:41] there that's the polling booth [17:42] you take the piece of paper you put it [17:44] in the envelope that had been given to [17:46] you by the [17:48] by the uh by the polling station manager [17:52] you seal the envelope you then come back [17:55] around i'm gonna stop the screen share [17:56] now [17:58] you then come back around outside of the [18:00] booth and put it into a box with a slot [18:03] in the top of it [18:04] at that point the the polling station [18:07] manager [18:08] hands you back your id card that he has [18:10] been holding on to [18:12] uh while you're voting and [18:16] you leave okay that's what happens [18:19] that's that's how you vote now there's [18:23] elliot will explain how this works where [18:25] there's no you're not voting for [18:26] anything else you're just voting for a [18:28] party [18:29] uh very different than the united states [18:31] and that's where a lot of the confusion [18:33] that outsiders have about what happens [18:34] in our elections [18:36] begins from but again i'll leave that [18:37] for elliott to describe [18:39] so that's how everyone votes there's [18:41] nothing computerized [18:42] it's all paper um [18:45] and and and the polling station stays [18:48] open until [18:49] uh i think 10 p.m is the time that they [18:51] officially close the polls here [18:53] now when the polls close [18:57] here's what happens every party [19:02] and again there's dozens of parties and [19:04] the vast majority of them don't [19:05] show up usually four or five parties are [19:08] represented in the room [19:09] but any political party that has an [19:11] interest in that ballot station [19:13] can send someone to join the counting [19:16] team [19:19] and but that person has to be has to be [19:21] registered they have to know in advance [19:22] you have to have your name on a list [19:24] so let's say the first time i ever did [19:26] this i wasn't a [19:27] poll station manager i was on accounting [19:28] team i show up [19:30] i say i'm representing the likud party [19:32] on the counting of this particular [19:35] polling station they checked to make [19:36] sure that i was approved in advance that [19:38] i was i was [19:39] i am who i say i am i show my id card [19:41] again and i'm allowed in the room [19:44] the people who are observing the [19:45] counting are in the room [19:47] the the polling station manager from the [19:49] interior ministry who's been there since [19:51] the morning is still [19:52] there they're putting on a long day and [19:54] this is at 10 p.m after we've closed the [19:55] polls okay and usually we start [19:57] immediately [19:58] because they they just want to get it [19:59] done and get the counting done [20:01] so doors closed the people in the room [20:05] are going to be observing the count and [20:08] it's usually a classroom in a school you [20:10] get all [20:10] you know get the you know the classroom [20:12] tables everyone kind of sits in a circle [20:14] and then here's what happens we don't [20:18] just open the box and start counting [20:20] the first thing that happens is we take [20:22] out those two pads those two polling [20:24] books [20:26] and there and the two [20:29] and two different people it could be the [20:30] volunteers [20:32] uh usually it's not the person who was [20:34] marking them they give it to someone [20:35] else [20:36] and each book is counted separately how [20:40] many names were crossed off [20:44] the short way to do that is because [20:46] usually [20:47] israel usually has high high voter [20:49] turnouts is what we do [20:50] the quick way to do it is you look at [20:52] the bottom number of the last [20:54] voter let's say there's 500 voters in [20:55] the precinct [20:57] and then we go through the book and [20:58] count how many names weren't crossed off [21:00] either way the two books get counted and [21:03] that number has to be identical [21:08] the number of names crossed off in the [21:10] two books must be identical [21:12] if it's not identical a report is f is [21:15] filled out [21:16] that gets attached to this polling [21:18] station that there is a flaw [21:19] in this polling station because the [21:21] number was not identical we then go on [21:23] with the count [21:24] anyway but that means that this is a [21:26] questionable polling station [21:28] i've been involved in these counts i [21:30] think uh [21:31] four or five times i've never seen it [21:34] not come out identical [21:35] by the way in the times this isn't about [21:38] a large sample size [21:39] but they have those two books have to be [21:41] identical [21:43] uh because again you could see where if [21:45] there was only one book you could see [21:47] where fraud could happen [21:48] the person who's marking the book maybe [21:51] gets up and goes to the bathroom [21:54] someone else sitting there or sitting [21:55] next to them just crosses off a name [21:57] takes an envelope [21:59] and at some point in the day drops it in [22:02] you know but again it's very difficult [22:04] because there's multiple people in the [22:05] room at all times okay [22:07] so we've checked the two books the two [22:09] books are identical [22:10] and we also know exactly how many [22:12] envelopes there should be in the box [22:14] because [22:14] we've counted how many voters voted so [22:17] let's say [22:18] 450 out of the 500 voters voted there's [22:20] 50 lines that weren't crossed off [22:22] we know that we need to find 450 [22:24] envelopes in the box [22:26] we then unlock the box it boxes a [22:28] padlock on it we unlock the box open it [22:31] up [22:31] dump out all the envelopes we're not [22:32] opening them yet we are counting the [22:35] envelopes closed [22:36] the enveloped envelopes get counted and [22:39] there must [22:40] be the same number as the number of [22:43] names crossed off everyone in the room [22:46] is watching [22:46] again everyone the representatives of [22:48] all these parties these volunteers are [22:50] all sitting there watching [22:51] and everyone has a piece of paper and a [22:52] pen and everyone's taking notes [22:55] count up the envelopes the envelopes [22:56] there's 450 envelopes we're good to go [22:59] at this point one person [23:03] again generally it is the it is the [23:05] manager of the of the [23:06] of the polling station will open up [23:08] these envelopes [23:09] by hand one by one [23:12] it takes a long time but again it's not [23:15] that many votes it's a few hundred votes [23:17] he opens up an envelope he [23:20] shows the inside of the envelope and [23:22] pulls out the piece of paper now why [23:23] does he do that to make sure [23:25] that there's nothing else in the [23:26] envelope besides one slip of paper [23:29] this means and let me explain how strict [23:31] we are [23:32] let's say someone wanted to vote for [23:34] this party this is the labor party [23:36] okay let's say someone wanted to vote [23:37] for the labour party [23:39] and by mistake two pieces of paper came [23:42] out [23:43] they're thin little pieces of paper and [23:44] they came out two together [23:47] even if they're two beautiful pristine [23:50] pieces of paper [23:51] together in the envelope that is an [23:53] invalid vote [23:54] it's not a vote for the labour party it [23:57] is marked [23:58] invalid because there were two pieces of [23:59] paper in there if this piece of paper [24:02] has [24:03] pen marks on it it has something written [24:05] on it [24:06] it's ripped it is an invalid vote [24:09] and there's no disputes here there's no [24:12] bending of the rules [24:13] it is an invalid vote okay it's [24:17] extremely strict [24:19] um so we open up the envelopes we take [24:21] out so [24:23] the the the uh station manager the [24:26] polling station manager opens up the [24:27] envelope he takes out the vote [24:29] and he he holds it up and shows it to [24:31] everyone in the room [24:32] and says labour party [24:36] everyone in the room writes has on their [24:38] on their piece of paper [24:40] they have you know different names of [24:41] parties and they right next to it [24:43] one and they're and they're marking it [24:45] one two three four [24:46] five one two three four five you know [24:49] the way [24:50] when we count with lines with the one [24:51] two three four and then you cross the [24:52] five [24:53] right everyone does that but here [24:56] everyone's actually instructed to do [24:57] that [24:58] and the reason they're instructed to do [24:59] that is that [25:01] when a fifth vote or 10th or 15th or [25:04] 20th or 25th on the fives [25:06] for each party gets mentioned so let's [25:09] say he pulls it out he says labor he [25:10] pulls out another one [25:11] likud he pulls out another one likud [25:13] when he gets to the fifthly couped vote [25:15] and says likud someone in the room [25:17] usually a bunch of people do it at the [25:18] same time [25:19] will say that's a five or [25:22] in hebrew they'll just say sogar which [25:24] means i'm closing a five [25:26] and someone might say wait a second i [25:28] only had four [25:29] right i didn't have five if anyone [25:33] objects [25:34] we take all the votes from that party [25:36] that have been voted [25:37] that have been counted already and [25:39] recount them on the spot to make sure [25:41] that everyone's got the same number [25:43] okay and so [25:47] uh the the person who's doing the [25:49] counting usually has [25:51] this prop which is this this plank of [25:54] wood this little just a [25:56] strip of wood that has nails sticking up [25:59] on it and will stack them that will [26:03] stack the counted votes by party [26:05] so that at any point if anyone has a [26:07] question of how many votes there were [26:08] for a certain party and says wait a [26:09] second [26:10] uh you're saying that's that's the 20th [26:13] vote for labor i have 19. [26:15] at that point they will pick them up and [26:17] recount them in front of everyone to [26:19] make sure that they were 20. [26:20] okay that's the way the process works [26:23] it's extremely transparent [26:26] at the end of it everyone has uh [26:29] you know everyone's been keeping score [26:31] how many votes for each party have been [26:33] done in this particular ballot station [26:35] everyone's in agreement [26:37] the agreed upon number gets written into [26:40] an official report book [26:41] and is shown to everyone in the room [26:46] and then the votes and then the actual [26:48] physical paper votes are wrapped up in [26:49] rubber bands and special envelopes [26:52] that are provided by the interior [26:54] ministry everything is packaged up [26:56] with everyone watching every step of it [27:00] and locked again in a box [27:03] and that report of how many votes [27:06] uh uh came in is is uh phoned in to the [27:10] interior ministry [27:12] with everyone witnessing the phone call [27:16] okay that's when the counting is over [27:19] that's how the counting process happens [27:20] here in israel [27:22] uh i just thought this was especially [27:23] with everything going on in america [27:25] uh i think would be i thought it was [27:27] interesting for people to know [27:28] everything is [27:29] absolutely done by hand and paper from [27:32] start [27:32] to finish and what happens next [27:36] okay so first of all which means that [27:38] nobody can electronically sneak in [27:41] and fill with anything right [27:44] and you've got a paper trail literally [27:48] to go back on hundred percent right [27:51] oh there's two things i forgot to [27:52] mention first of all i mentioned i [27:53] caught someone cheating [27:54] how does that happen so that actually [27:57] happened in a municipal election here [27:59] municipal elections are held in israel [28:00] every five years [28:02] um and uh i was involved in in a few of [28:04] those too [28:05] in fact my i have a brother who's a city [28:07] councilman here in ames [28:08] as part of the likud party we could [28:10] party sort of our family thanks to you [28:11] being [28:12] one of the but uh so i was working at a [28:16] polling station [28:17] here in beijing and someone came [28:21] in and the id [28:24] card was not them [28:27] uh like the photo id see [28:31] the the person in the photo id they had [28:33] they had tried to alter their appearance [28:35] to vote on behalf of someone who was [28:37] probably out of town or something [28:38] because [28:38] if someone's abroad if someone's in [28:40] israel on vacation or on a business trip [28:42] they cannot vote i've missed elections [28:44] for being away it happens there's no way [28:46] israel you have to vote in person [28:48] and by the way israeli citizens many [28:50] israeli citizens who live in the states [28:52] will plan [28:52] family visits to come back to israel [28:55] visit their family around elections in [28:57] order to be able to vote in the local [28:58] in these in the in the elections here in [29:00] israel i did that myself i lived in the [29:02] states for five years [29:03] after i had moved to israel already i [29:05] went back to work as a rabbi in the [29:06] states [29:07] and during that time there was an [29:08] election and i actually i had [29:10] i was planning to come back and visit [29:11] anyway i planned it around election time [29:14] and i [29:14] and i was able to vote um so i caught [29:18] someone [29:18] who was who was uh who was trying to [29:20] vote most illegal votes in israel [29:22] happened for two reasons either because [29:25] of people disguising themselves [29:27] and i hate to say it this often happens [29:29] in the ultra-orthodox haredi community [29:31] where [29:31] to outsiders they look very similar to [29:33] each other [29:34] and they feel that they can trick people [29:37] so if someone's away or [29:38] or or maybe recently deceased and and or [29:41] something like that they can [29:43] they'll find someone to dress up like [29:44] the person and that was the situation [29:46] that i caught [29:47] another type of uh of election fraud [29:50] that does happen in israel [29:51] will happen in in towns like yours in [29:54] small towns [29:56] where maybe nobody showed up [29:59] from you know or there weren't enough [30:02] observers from outside [30:04] and and they play games there [30:07] even though there should be oversight [30:09] the oversight wasn't very good [30:11] um and this will happen it'll sometimes [30:13] happen in [30:14] again in towns that are remote and that [30:17] are [30:17] and that kind of you know have their own [30:19] mafia style political leadership [30:21] internally [30:22] so there's some of that going on but [30:24] that'll happen [30:26] is more likely to happen in towns that [30:29] are politically monolithic [30:30] correct correct i i mentioned not [30:34] not to defend where i live but we're [30:36] extremely diverse as a matter of fact [30:38] historically [30:39] the um the voting statistics [30:43] of eshkar where i live are virtually [30:45] identical to the national statistics oh [30:48] that's quite diverse okay [30:51] anyway so so yeah i just wanted to [30:53] mention that so that's what happens [30:55] and then and and by the way the results [30:57] in israeli elections come in [30:58] very very quickly because the precincts [31:00] are so small [31:02] this process i told you about usually [31:04] you're done by about one in the morning [31:06] okay which me and the polls close at ten [31:08] you get started a few minutes later [31:09] it takes a few hours but it's only a few [31:11] hundred votes [31:13] by the way no one's allowed to leave the [31:14] room during this process if [31:16] if there's a break if a break is going [31:18] to be taken everyone has to agree to it [31:20] and multiple people from multiple [31:22] parties stay with everything to guard it [31:25] i mean it's in talk about there was [31:27] discussions on the [31:28] after the american election about chain [31:30] of custody i promise you there are no [31:31] chain of custody issues [31:33] right in the israeli election it's uh [31:35] it's really really carefully watched [31:38] um so by the time [31:41] as the night goes on the results come in [31:43] you who've never been involved in this [31:45] process ellie what you're used to [31:47] is you turn on the news and starting by [31:49] about midnight they're already bringing [31:50] in real-time results [31:52] yes and they're coming in they're coming [31:53] in fast and by the time [31:55] you wake up the next morning there is [31:57] every vote has every vote has been [31:58] submitted [31:59] and counted it's a small country all [32:01] right so [32:02] okay ellie you pick it up from here and [32:04] talk about what what happens after an [32:06] election [32:06] so if that's if what you've described [32:10] is different from the united states [32:13] experience [32:15] now we're going to go completely [32:18] away different from the american [32:20] experience [32:22] the israeli system unlike the american [32:25] is a proportional system [32:26] now you mentioned that we only vote for [32:29] a party and i [32:30] also collected some of the party [32:33] slips just you know souvenir of [32:36] democracy [32:37] uh each party gets [32:41] a or each vote is for a party [32:45] in the american system let me start with [32:47] the the contrast [32:48] in the american system there's a winner [32:50] take all system [32:52] in other words no matter how many people [32:54] run [32:55] there's one winner and everybody else [32:57] loses [32:59] now in some localities [33:03] you need one thing the georgia senate [33:06] races [33:08] you need more than 50 of the vote to win [33:11] so if there are multiple candidates and [33:13] you don't get 50 of the vote [33:14] it has to be a run-off yeah but [33:16] ultimately there's only one winner [33:20] and you raised a question before that i [33:22] think is [33:23] this is part of the answer why are why [33:25] are they all of these small [33:26] parties well look if you can't get 50 [33:29] plus [33:30] 50 plus in an election in the united [33:33] states [33:34] there's no point in setting up a small [33:36] party that's only gonna [33:38] hope to get garnish [33:41] five percent of the vote five percent is [33:44] lethal in america well or let's say even [33:47] more even more [33:49] you know down to brass tax in the united [33:51] states [33:52] it's a winner take all system also [33:54] locally everyone [33:55] if there's if there's a state if there's [33:58] meaning if there's a state [34:00] that is a blue state that is [34:01] overwhelmingly blue [34:03] the republican party won't put any [34:05] resources into that [34:06] because the battles there are in the [34:08] primaries because whatever votes there [34:10] are for the republican party in that [34:11] state are not counted [34:12] towards any national total that has any [34:15] real impact it only has an impact in a [34:16] public relations way oh winning the [34:18] popular vote [34:19] but it doesn't actually produce results [34:20] as opposed to in israel if [34:22] if in there was one person who voted for [34:25] a certain party [34:27] that vote isn't lost that vote goes into [34:29] the national total [34:30] right so it may or may not be lost but [34:32] let let's say for [34:34] our purposes let's start with the idea [34:36] that rather than a winner take all [34:38] this is a proportional system now i'm [34:42] not going to go into the threshold [34:43] because that that's going to confuse [34:45] the issues but there is a threshold you [34:47] have to get a certain number [34:48] of a certain percentage in order to get [34:51] in [34:51] ignore that for the moment there are 120 [34:55] seats in the knesset in the parliament [34:58] and that means that each seat is worth [35:01] zero point [35:02] eight three percent of the vote [35:06] one one twentieth okay okay [35:10] now what that means is that if you can [35:12] get one percent [35:14] you've got a seat again ignore the the [35:16] actual threshold point [35:18] uh or to put it more accurately an extra [35:22] one percent gives you an extra seat [35:25] so if you got six percent as opposed to [35:28] seven percent as opposed to eight [35:30] percent you get a different number of [35:31] seats [35:32] in the parliament because what happens [35:34] is at the end of the process that you [35:36] just described [35:38] the total number of votes cast is [35:40] tabulated [35:43] whatever that number is and then [35:46] each party's total is matched to that [35:49] number [35:50] as a percentage so [35:54] if a party got 10 to the vote it gets 12 [35:57] seats [35:58] if it gets 20 percent of the vote it [36:00] gets 24 seats [36:02] and so on and going down in the other [36:05] direction [36:06] if it gets 5 to the vote it gets 6 seats [36:11] now what that means is [36:15] to your remark is that you know what a [36:18] party could [36:18] reasonably a group of people can get [36:20] together and reasonably hope [36:22] most of the time they're wrong but that [36:24] doesn't matter reasonably hope to get [36:26] three four five percent of the vote a [36:29] little bit of optimism [36:30] a little bit of you know hope for a [36:33] miracle [36:34] five percent is not that huge a [36:37] percentage [36:38] to sort of imagine you can [36:42] get that's number one [36:46] number two the american system is a [36:49] two-party system [36:50] not by law but by process [36:55] since the number of parties in america [37:00] or the number of candidates dictate the [37:02] number of losers [37:04] not the number of winners the more [37:07] candidates the more losers and therefore [37:11] if you have for example i don't want to [37:13] go into american politics here [37:15] if you have a party split because [37:18] a particular leader of a party without [37:21] mentioning any names [37:22] decides that they want to go off and set [37:24] up their own party in contrast to the [37:26] traditional one [37:27] what that's basically going to do is [37:29] guarantee a victory of the other side [37:31] because it's going to split the vote and [37:35] they're going to lose so the tendency is [37:38] and has been throughout history [37:40] american history is to resolve conflicts [37:43] within the party [37:44] rather than go out and form a new one [37:47] in israel that's not the case because [37:51] ultimately if i can get [37:54] through a breakaway i can pick up five [37:57] six seven eight ten percent of the vote [37:59] i'll have my seats okay [38:02] now at the end of that process and there [38:05] there's also [38:06] all sorts of tweaking at the end that [38:07] i'm not going to go into here uh [38:10] what about the votes or the extra votes [38:13] in other words [38:14] uh you don't get the exact number you [38:17] get 10 seats but you have an extra 100 [38:19] 000 votes what happens to them [38:21] let's leave that at the end of a [38:24] procedure [38:25] all 120 seats are allocated to the [38:28] parties [38:29] based on approximations of the [38:32] proportions [38:33] yes but they're very close [38:34] approximations yeah yeah [38:36] there's there's a whole staged process [38:38] here exactly speaking of this account [38:41] then they eliminate the parties that [38:42] didn't get in and then they exactly [38:44] redivide it [38:44] that's right that's what i didn't want [38:46] to go into in detail but it basically [38:48] is a difference of a seat up a seat down [38:52] yeah but just to get the whole concept [38:53] generally i just want to put this into [38:55] and you know use like a strange american [38:57] metaphor so people get their heads [38:58] around it [38:59] if if this was the united states imagine [39:01] if on [39:02] on november 3rd 2020 instead of voting [39:05] the whole slate that you voted i mean [39:07] let's forget about [39:08] the state uh legislation so let's just [39:11] think about washington d.c [39:12] if instead of voting for senators [39:14] congressman and the president [39:16] if you were just voting public [39:19] republican [39:20] democrat democrat or libertarian right [39:23] so you had you had one piece of paper [39:26] that said [39:26] the republican party led by donald trump [39:29] and you had another piece of paper that [39:30] said the democratic party led by joe [39:31] biden and he had a third piece of paper [39:33] that said [39:33] the libertarian party led by by [39:36] jorgensen [39:37] jorgensen got one what is it one percent [39:41] of the vote [39:42] or something or a couple percent of the [39:43] vote uh whatever the percentage that [39:46] they [39:46] got that the the the let's say uh [39:49] let's say jorgensen got two percent of [39:52] the vote and there's 438 [39:55] uh seats in in the in the house of [39:57] representatives [39:59] 435 435 seats in the house of [40:02] representatives [40:03] the that that would mean that the [40:05] libertarians would have been allotted [40:08] something like four or five or five six [40:11] seats [40:12] and they would have they would have [40:13] those c's right [40:15] right so let let's [40:19] accept that it doesn't work that way [40:20] right okay [40:22] because we're talking about two [40:23] different systems it's not just [40:24] proportional [40:25] i'll i'll come to that in a moment let [40:28] me just say that [40:29] the the advantage disadvantage of each [40:33] each system is that the american system [40:35] is much more stable and the israeli [40:38] system is much more representative [40:42] okay now which is better that's a whole [40:44] different discussion maybe we'll do a [40:46] different talk on that but that's the [40:48] essential difference [40:50] in the in sort of overall structure [40:52] between the two [40:53] but now we go to the next phase and uh [40:56] i i imagine friends of yours american [40:58] friends of yours have been asking you [41:00] this [41:00] for the past few weeks and i know [41:02] because friends of mine have [41:04] uh you know what's the outcome gonna be [41:06] and [41:07] my answer has been i don't know what [41:09] yours has been is are you kidding me [41:11] first of all it's way too close to call [41:15] but you've also got this spread of [41:18] again two three percent one way or the [41:21] other changes the entire [41:23] changes the whole map map yeah i mean [41:25] what i'm going to be getting and you'll [41:27] be getting it tomorrow as well [41:28] who wants if people didn't watch this [41:30] video or will people say who won who [41:35] no because now the fun begins right [41:39] okay unlike the american system [41:42] in which the executive meaning the [41:44] president [41:45] is elected in a separate election and [41:48] the legislature [41:50] has its own election in different [41:52] varying [41:53] times of the house and the senate and [41:55] that sort of thing [41:56] but you vote for the legislature in one [41:59] ballot on one ballot and you vote the [42:01] executive on the other on another ballot [42:04] in a parliamentary system like ours [42:07] the executive is elected by the [42:10] legislature [42:13] in other words the prime minister and [42:15] the government [42:17] will be elected by the knesset [42:21] not by direct vote of [42:24] the population right that's an important [42:27] point you're making elliot [42:28] so just you know in other words [42:30] everything i described [42:33] the pieces of paper in the envelope your [42:35] own that's the legend [42:37] for the proportional representation of a [42:40] particular party [42:42] in the knesset that's called it's [42:44] determined right [42:45] and then okay as you say now in order to [42:48] seat in order to seat a government [42:51] you have to have a majority of the [42:52] knesset which is 61 seats [42:56] now the easiest way to do it which has [42:58] never happened in israel's history [43:00] is to simply win 61 seats [43:03] in the election never happened [43:06] and it's getting worse not better okay [43:10] which means that you have to form a [43:12] coalition in other words bring [43:14] parties together under an agreement to [43:17] get to that magic 61. [43:20] now the [43:23] the law as opposed to traditions [43:26] the law assigns [43:30] the job to the president of israel [43:34] to choose the member of knesset [43:38] who the president believes has the [43:40] highest [43:41] likelihood of forming a government it [43:44] does not have to be the head of a party [43:46] it does not have to be part of the [43:48] largest party [43:50] before the knesset and those are two [43:53] traditions [43:54] but they are not the law [43:57] but in practice i said it's tradition [44:00] right in practice the president [44:02] and of course the president is just to [44:04] make clear just in case anyone doesn't [44:05] know the president in israel [44:07] is largely a ceremonial type position [44:11] this is one of the true authorities [44:15] that he has that he has now before [44:19] assigning that position or signing that [44:23] the the the option the [44:27] the ability to form a government the [44:29] president [44:30] meets with representatives of all of the [44:32] parties [44:34] and after the preliminary what would you [44:36] like to drink and how's the family [44:38] the president basically asks them two [44:40] key questions [44:43] who will you sit with i'm sorry three [44:45] questions [44:46] who do you recommend who will you sit [44:50] with in a government [44:52] and who won't you sit within a [44:53] government [44:56] okay i mean obviously the discussion is [44:57] more elaborate than that but those are [44:58] the three key questions [45:00] what is your recommendation in other [45:01] words who should i give what's called [45:03] the mandate [45:05] to to form the government two who will [45:08] you [45:09] who are you willing to sit with in a [45:10] government and [45:12] three who are you totally unwilling to [45:14] sit within government [45:17] and he then take he collates all of that [45:20] information [45:21] and comes to the decision to go to [45:25] knesset member [45:26] x and say call them in and say [45:29] i charge you with the formation of [45:32] government [45:33] and then the negotiations begin which [45:36] we'll see down the road uh hardball [45:39] politics not always obvious [45:43] keep in mind and this is another one of [45:44] the quirks of the system [45:48] 60 59 is not 61. [45:52] and if you have a a group of 59 seats [45:57] and there's a party with two seats [46:00] they become king maker absolutely [46:04] and there's a lot of drama that's right [46:07] what we should do elliott [46:09] now that you know in resuming the israel [46:11] matters uh videos now [46:12] pick this up in a week or two we'll pick [46:14] is that we'll give regular updates about [46:16] how this is going [46:17] as we explain the process right now we [46:20] should point out [46:21] that most of israel's his most of the [46:23] elections in israel's history [46:25] the the giving of the mandate to someone [46:28] to form a government by the president [46:30] is a formality because it's a foregone [46:31] conclusion because you'll have one party [46:34] that is so obviously powerful that was [46:36] overwhelmingly powerful [46:38] it's the leader of the party who that [46:39] got the most seats but in israel in the [46:42] in the previous election where you had [46:45] the [46:45] the party led by benny gantz and [46:47] netanyahu's party [46:49] it was actually not not so clear who who [46:52] should get the mandate [46:54] and it went kind of back and forth that [46:55] was that was true in the 80s too [46:58] yes it was right and they ended up [47:00] forming a unity government nations and [47:02] unity governments and all sorts of [47:03] things [47:04] yeah there was there was a lot there [47:05] were issues then but you know could you [47:07] explain what happened [47:08] so how long does the mandate last what [47:10] happens [47:11] they they get three weeks and they can [47:14] request an [47:15] additional extension if that person [47:18] fails to [47:19] form a government the president can [47:23] give it to somebody else that's also [47:26] happened [47:27] the knesset can dissolve itself [47:30] that's also happened has also happened [47:33] in other words [47:34] there are all sorts of variants here [47:36] that i i think we should leave [47:38] because i think we're also running a [47:40] little long on this sure [47:42] i think we've answered basically what's [47:43] going to be happening over the next few [47:45] days [47:46] and what what i would suggest is next [47:48] time maybe pick this up [47:50] with the much better knowledge of [47:52] answering the who [47:53] who won and who lost will be much [47:57] more um digestible let's say [48:00] right a week from now we won't know [48:02] who's going to be the ultimate winner [48:04] but will know the winners and losers of [48:06] today [48:08] for sure and and maybe what we'll also [48:10] discuss then [48:11] is the this is also a bit of a paradigm [48:14] shift from the united states [48:15] that the whole idea that cabinet [48:17] ministers are also members of the [48:19] legislature [48:20] that's something that we have to discuss [48:22] we'll talk about the [48:23] rule ruled by government by cabinet as [48:25] opposed to government by [48:27] chief executive absolutely all right [48:29] this is wonderful [48:30] i hope this was helpful please share [48:32] this you know so many people have [48:33] questions about the israeli elections if [48:35] you have friends [48:36] and you're just they're just interested [48:38] or just put it on your facebook page and [48:39] say hey this is how israeli elections [48:41] work [48:41] or if you're an election integrity [48:43] zealot and you want to share with people [48:44] you know [48:45] how they do it in israel right uh you [48:48] know there's [48:48] there's not a lot of things that people [48:50] praise the israeli political system for [48:52] but this [48:53] but i think our election integrity is [48:54] excellent and i think from that [48:55] perspective israel is a very healthy [48:57] country [48:58] so uh you know thank you for watching [49:00] please share this around we're going to [49:01] get up and running again for those of [49:02] you who [49:03] stuck with us thank you for for still [49:06] being there and [49:07] spread the word about israel matters god [49:10] bless
How do Israeli elections work. Rabbi Pesach Wolicki has been a poll worker, observer, and vote counter. He explains step by step how Israel guarantees the integrity of its election process. Security and political analyst Elliot Chodoff then explains the process of forming the government in light of the election results.
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