Elections in Haifa/according to Article 27A
Drama in the elections in the Migdal settlement in the north: after the counting of the double envelopes was finished yesterday and the election committee found that the candidate Robert Kennedy Amrosi received 598 votes while his opponent, Nathaniel Alfasi, received 601 votes, that is, the difference between them is only three votes.
However, it turned out that during the counting, members of the election committee found three votes given to Kennedy with "Robert Amarousi" handwritten on them - those one of the members of the ballot committee, on behalf of Alfasi, asked to invalidate the ballots in his name.
The chairman of the ballot committee, and two other committee members, objected to the disqualification on the grounds that his first and last name do appear on the ballot clearly and that the voter's intention was completely clear. At
this point, the director of elections, Sigal Ben Oz, intervened together with the secretary of the committee, and they determined that these ballots were invalid because in the name that appears in them is missing the middle name ("Canadien"). But due to the objection of the three members of the ballot committee to the invalidation of the ballots, the election director decided to consult with the regional election director, and he even told her that if the name does not appear exactly, then the ballots are invalid.
"The election director took She was not given authority by the law, while the majority of the committee members believed
that the aforementioned notes should be accepted and approved. And as we will see below, the law should have accepted and approved them", now argue attorney Amichai Weinberger and attorney Adi Sedinsky Levy, from the office of Weinberger Bartenthal & Co. , the lawyers representing Robert Kennedy, in an urgent appeal that they sent on Saturday evening to the election director while citing the local authorities law.
"Instead of a printed ballot, a voter may also use a blank ballot, the color and shape of which are determined by the regulations, on which the voter shall write, in his handwriting, in Hebrew or Arabic, the first name of the candidate and his last name in a way that allows him to be identified with certainty and nothing else, provided that the aforementioned entry is made with a blue pen; Every voter may receive a blank ballot from the polling committee" and that "decisions of the polling committee will be made by a majority vote of the participants in the vote if the opinions are equal, the chairman of the yeshiva will decide"
Ballots for local authorities, Tel Aviv polling stations, February 27, 2024/Reuven Castro
They point out that even if the director of elections was mistaken and believed in good faith that she had the authority to order the disqualification of the ballots, it is clear that her action as stated was without authority and it is clear that the authority to decide on their disqualification rests only with the members of the ballot committee.
"These are the envelopes of IDF soldiers who went to the trouble and voted at the bases and not from the middle even within the Gaza Strip," the lawyers emphasize, "unlawful disqualification of their vote is sinful for the entire purpose and logic of the election process
and the right of those who have the right to vote.
They claim that the members of the ballot committee were right that these ballots should be considered kosher ballots, since they clearly indicate the voters' intention to vote for Robert Kennedy Amrossi, and that "it was not for nothing that the legislator sought to give a relatively flexible test for understanding the voter's intention, by writing According to them, it is clear and cannot be disputed that the voters who wrote "Robert Amrousi" on the ballots, intended to vote for Robert Kennedy Amrousi and there cannot be any doubt or dispute about the matter, as well as there is no possibility of confusion or deception on the matter They
claim that since the qualification of the three ballots means that there will be complete equality between the two candidates for the presidency of the council, then in accordance with the provisions of the law, repeat elections must be held and demand that the Ministry of the Interior refrain from publishing the results of the final elections until the polling committee convenes for the purpose of qualification of the aforementioned ballots.
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