"It is a lot of work to arrange the vote here. A lot of bureaucracy, handling all the lists, we hope it's really going to be the last time."
By OMRI NAHMIASA banner depicts Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, and Israel Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as part of Blue and White party's campaign ahead of the upcoming election, in Tel Aviv, Israel February 17, 2020(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – They say that third time's a charm. Dozens of people stood in line on Tuesday to cast their ballot at Israel's third election cycle.Dorit Zats, Minister for administrative affairs and consul at the Israeli Embassy, is the polling station manager here. She told The Jerusalem Post that by 1 pm, more than half of eligible voters already cast their ballot. "It's similar [turnout] as the last couple of election cycles. People who vote here are state officials, so their motivation to vote is higher than the average person, and therefore the turnout in Israeli embassies is traditionally higher than in Israel," she told the Post. "It is a lot of work to arrange the vote here. A lot of bureaucracy, handling all the lists, we hope it's really going to be the last time."Some 300 Israeli diplomats and emissaries are eligible to vote in this station, out of 1,789 voters across the US and 132 additional voters in Canada. Only official government workers and other emissaries of the Jewish Agency and a handful of other institutions are allowed to vote abroad.For Hadar Lapid, emissary of Bnei Akiva and World Zionist Organization in Boston, who voted in Washington on Wednesday, that was the first time voting abroad: In Israel's first election cycle in April of 2019, she was still living in Israel. She arrived in Boston in September after early voting was over and missed her chance to vote at the second election cycle."I the same motivation to vote as I had at the first election cycle, and maybe even higher motivation," she told the Post. "Being overseas and working at the Jewish community, speaking about Zionism, makes us want to vote even more. I have the privilege to cast my ballot, not just to talk about it.""It is very different than voting in Israel," she added. "You don't feel the negative aspects of political campaigns. It is very calm, which helps you to cast your ballot with a peace of mind."Tamara Cohen, who works at the Embassy, told the Post that it feels weird to cast a ballot for the third time in one year. "I doubt if it's going to be the last election cycle. With every election, my confidence that we are going to see clear results is going down. I feel like there's a high probability that the same thing [deadlock] is going to happen again. But, we must go out and vote, there's no question about it.""Elections are always an exciting thing," Elad Strohmayer, spokesperson of the Israeli Embassy, told the Post. "These are diplomats who represent Israel daily. So, being able to vote and affect what's going on in Israel is always special. It seems like we will have a higher turnout than September. We hope it's going to be the last election for this year."
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