Gloved and masked, election monitors on Wednesday counted ballot papers of voters suspected of coming into contact with coronavirus.
More than 4,000 such voters cast ballots on Monday at special polling booths that were sequestered and sterile, and where they were required to wear surgical masks and gloves as Central Elections Committee delegates watched through a nylon partition.
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Election officials in protective gear counting ballots of voters in quarantine amid coronavirus fears
(Photo: Shaul Golan)
The committee said its senior officials - among them are Central Elections Committee director Orly Adas; the committee’s legal adviser, Dean Livne; spokesperson Giora Fordes; and various department heads - had volunteered to count the votes and spare staff vacillation over health risks.
Taking care to avoid paper-cuts, the monitors - some in protective suits, others making do with masks and gloves - sorted through piles of ballots sealed in nylon bags in a guarded pavilion.
The committee had set a target tally pace of 1,000 votes per hour, reflecting public pressure for resolution in what was, amid political deadlock, Israel's third election in a year.
How Israel executes the most basic of democratic functions under the shadow of the coronavirus could offer lessons to other countries - such as the United States, which holds a presidential election in November.
So far, 15 coronavirus cases were reported across the country and thousands of people entered home quarantine on suspicion of exposure.
The latter includes a top IDF general, hundreds of children from at least two schools and hundreds of soccer fans who are believed to have sat close to an infected teen at a soccer match at Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium last month.