elections 2026
Today we voted for the Israeli Knesset. My wife and I went to vote around 10am at the elementary school just next to our home, where our daughters study. It was packed full. The atmosphere was good, lots of good people wanting to impact their country’s future.
A bit later in the day, I walked 1.5 km South, and volunteered as an election observer. This was volunteer work. The idea is that observers can watch the paid workers, assist them in any way they can, and maybe catch inconsistencies or, in more extreme cases, blatant attempts at fraud.
I was stationed at an orthodox school for boys, Talmud Torah Chabad, from 12pm to 6pm. Walking there, I felt anxious about this volunteering work, I was hoping no major incidents would happen.
I’m happy to say that I had a wonderful experience. We were 7 staff personnel in the classroom, each representing a different party: Netanyahu’s Likud, Bennett’s Yachad, Eisenkot’s Yashar, there was an orthodox lady who I surmise votes for one of the orthodox parties, and me, representing Golan’s Democrats.
The staff members were wonderful people. All acted in good faith and responsibly. In the spare time between voters we chatted and joked. We talked about life and politics, always with respect. The head of the staff is a Physics PhD student, and we talked about spinors. The guy sitting next to me was watching university lectures on his phone, taking notes. It turns out he’s a double-major undergrad in Math and Computer Science in my own university, the Hebrew University. Another guy was saying that he hopes these elections don’t turn out to be a tie, because he’s going to travel to New Zealand and doesn’t want to come back in just a few months to vote again. The guy representing the Likud party, said that he doesn’t get why people shout at volunteers doing field work on the streets, everybody is entitled to their own opinions. I have more to say, but you get the idea.
For six hours I watched hundreds of people coming to vote. They all had hope on their faces. The people in this neighborhood most probably vote for the kind of parties I would never consider voting for, and when they look at me I think they think the same. Never mind. I’m writing this blog post so I can remember in the future how I felt today. In a couple of hours the polling stations will close, and we’ll watch on national TV what will be of these elections. I’m not especially hopeful for the outcomes, but right now I’m definitely hopeful for the people of my country :)