Polling stations being readied for Israelis in quarantine

The Central Elections Committee is preparing up to 20 polling stations for Israelis exposed to the coronavirus, CEC head Orly Ades said on Army Radio on Sunday.

The special polling stations will be separate from others and will be intended for voters during their 14-day quarantine period. The CEC is awaiting instructions from the Health Ministry regarding those in isolation ahead of next Monday’s election.

A CEC spokesman said the committee was looking for polling station locations and for staff to man them.

Interior Minister Arye Deri said in an interview with KAN Radio that there was no chance of postponing the election due to the virus. He said there was no need, because “we are making sure that those in isolation will be able to vote.”

Blue and White Party MK Zvi Hauser wrote the head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and

Defense Committee, Blue and White MK Gabi Ashkenazi, asking him to form a subcommittee of MKs to oversee the government’s preparations for the spread of the virus. Hauser had asked for a special Knesset committee to be formed to deal with the matter, but his proposal was not brought to the Knesset plenum for approval.

“Overseeing the handling of the spread of the virus must remain above politics and should not be postponed by elections,” Hauser wrote.

Hauser also wrote Defense Minister Naftali Bennett asking him to urgently appoint a permanent head of the National Emergency Authority.

Yisrael Beytenu’s candidate for health minister, World Medical Association immediate past president Dr. Leonid Edelman, said the steps the government is taking to handle the coronavirus indicate that the upcoming election is more of a factor than any infected visitors from South Korea.