Election Day

It's an eerily quiet day here in Jerusalem. It's election day. Everyone has the day off and most of the stores are closed. I just walked down the street to where we vote and there was almost no traffic. We live in the a relatively Anglo (American, British, and French (even though they are technically Franco)) and liberal part of Jerusalem, so the only party that had someone outside with a sign was the Green Party (who we support). I was surprised not to see anyone from the large parties as it's also a fairly religious neighborhood. We entered the room to see a table with the people who verify who has voted. I was impresed that there were five rooms and each had five people in it - that's a lot of volunteers!


I presented them with my Identity card, and Silvia did likewise (this is the same identity card she made at her Gan for the last elections). They were very impressed with her hand-made one.


They gave us an envelope and told me to go behind a screen to cast my vote.

Each of the above cards has a letter which stands for a political party. I voted for the "ה" which was for Hayeruka Hameiamad (The green Party), which means I picked up the little piece of paper, handed it to Silvia, who put it in the envelope, then Miriam sealed the envelope by peeling off the paper backing on the sticky part and sealing the envelope. It felt a little weird to be voting green while creating waste, but I don't think there's a better way.

The flow of people there was steady, though I wouldn't say it was packed. I think it's different than in the states where most people vote before or after work. There is no work today, so everyone votes when they feel like it. I am hoping that the cold, rainy weather doesn't deter people from voting.

Of course, when we left the voting station, we did the most important part of the day: Jumping in puddles!