A Primal Primary Experience
Rabbi Dr. Ilana Rosansky
OMG! Where do I begin? I never cease to be shocked and
surprised at some of the “ineptness” I experience again and again. And I never cease to be amazed at my continued
naïveté. You’d think that by now I would have become immune to the insanity
that abounds. But, oh no! Still shocked and dismayed. Again and again.
Ever the idealist (and adventuresome in spirit), I attended
a meeting some months ago hosted by the Shdulah
ha Pluralistit – הפלורליסטית השדולה, a
lobbying group supporting religious pluralism in Israel (http://www.pluralismagenda.org.il/).
Their intent is to involve more people —
especially (though not exclusively) new/old immigrants who have never gotten
involved in the Israeli political system before, and get them to ‘get
involved’.
Specifically, their
message was to join a party (any
party) – any party that has a primary election. Their argument was a
well-reasoned one. In the general elections, the voter is one vote among
hundreds of thousands (millions?), while in the primary elections one’s vote
counts (percentage-wise) much more. And the goal of the shdulah was to vote for candidates who would support religious
pluralism (a worthy cause in my book). In today’s Likud primary, there were
reported to be approximately 123,001 eligible voters. I was that one! The idea of registering for a party struck me,
last spring, as novel. I had never registered for any party in Israel before. I did not know anyone who ever had joined an
Israeli party either. And the idea was to vote for Knesset candidates who would
be open and sensitive to the issue of religious pluralism – among other
things. And I thought it would be
interesting to see how the process works.
The other two major
parties that have primaries, we were told, were Labor and Kadimah. As it turns out, one would have had to be a member of
those parties for 6 or so months before their primaries, in order to be
eligible to vote. And they had a primary in the summer and some people who also
registered to vote were, unfortunately, not yet eligible to vote in the
primaries.
Another point to mention
here is that in the general elections I do not have to vote for the party I
have registered for. That is, for 40 shekels I could join a party, and try to
influence who will be on the ‘ticket’ for the Likud, but in the end, I can vote
for Labor or haBayit haYehudi or
whatever new party comes along in the next week or so before the deadline — if
I so desire. So, it seemed like a pretty good idea, to get involved with the
“system”.
But OY!! For weeks now,
the primary candidates have been sending me hundreds of SMSs! I began to think
there was something wrong with my cell-phone battery the other day, as it was
completely depleted before the end of the day. But, although that is still a
distinct possibility, I will now have to wait until after these primaries in
order to ascertain if I need a new battery or if all these incoming SMS
messages are the cause of my depleted battery. Today alone, I have deleted over
25 messages from candidates seeking my vote! Five new messages came in while I
have been writing the above paragraphs! Ridiculous! Absurd! One candidate’s
message (which came in twice today) doesn’t list his/her ‘number’ on the
ballot, but rather says “Fire Dept.” (in English)! What is that all about? Would you be inclined to vote for a candidate that
sent an SMS entitled “Fire Dept.”?
But that is just an
annoyance and the tip of the iceberg…
So, after work today, I
went today to where I could vote in the Likud primaries. I wasn’t precisely
sure where the voting place was in Ra’anana, and the radio ads made it clear
that this year “everything is computerized so you could vote from any of the
nationwide voting places.” Still, I checked on Google Maps for the address of
the place, located the strip mall and set out to have a first-hand experience,
not knowing what to expect.
On the way, I heard on
the radio that the Likud primaries had been experiencing some “technical
difficulties”. They were having some computer problems. So I began to wonder
what would be. I had heard about long lines, Likud discussions about extending
the elections, cancelling these elections and re-running them later in the week
and so on. This is not what you expect from the primary elections of Israel’s
largest party.
I found the place and had
to negotiate a long line of tables of volunteers – young and old – promoting their candidates with stickers,
brochures, etc… I made my way into the building and up the stairs to stand in
line. It wasn’t moving very fast, to be sure and the people in line were kibbitzing with each other and with a
local journalist who wanted to know whom people were voting for. One man
verified that he had come earlier in the day and that the computer system was
‘down’ and so he had had to return. He was in pretty good humor for someone who
had to stand in line twice today!
There were printed pages,
on a table next to the line, that looked like ballots. They had the candidates’
names, numbers and a little box you could put an ‘x’ in. Silly me! I thought
these were the ballots and began
filling in my 6 or 8 real choices. Now, I thought that if you were allowed to
vote for 12 candidates at the national level and one from your local regional
area, that if I wanted to have my preferred candidates carry more weight, I
should vote for my 6 or 8 real choices.
As it got closer to my
turn I could see into the voting room. There were 4 tables set up with three or
four people (election volunteers) and behind each table there were two
cardboard ‘booths’ with laptop computers in them. As I came to the head of the
line I was asked to show my ID card. Then, when I was directed to an available
voting station in the room, I had to present my ID card again.
In the line, the young
woman in front of me was turned away after presenting her ID card. The official
told her he could not find her name on the list. She was nonplussed. He said
that perhaps she hadn’t paid her membership dues… I was directed to one of the
inside tables. There they checked my ID card and entered me into their computer.
And then, I asked what I needed to know in order to vote. “You must vote for 12
candidates, or your vote won’t be tabulated”, I was told. I was dumbfounded.
And given they were in good spirits and joking a bit I had to re-ask. “Are you
serious? I have to vote for 12?” I
was reassured that that was the only way I could vote. They insisted that I had
to vote for 12 national candidates and one regional candidate. I was still
dumfounded.
So I went onto the
computer in my little booth; the program worked with ‘touch’ (like a bank
machine). I selected my candidates and a few others I hadn’t really wanted to
vote for. The computer wasn’t all that responsive. I couldn’t always get the
‘continue’ button to respond. One of the volunteers came back to where I was to
assist me, and she hit the ‘continue’ button and it worked for her. So I
selected 12 national candidates, hit the ‘continue’ button to move on to the
regional candidate list and nothing happened. The computer went dead.
So I called out to the good
election volunteers at the table in front of my booth and someone came to
check. They told me to wait while they tried to verify that at least my
national choices had been recorded in the computer. After a while, they said
that I could not re-vote but that my national vote had, indeed, been recorded,
but now I could not vote for the regional candidate. It was a strange feeling.
I don’t know if my vote really was
recorded. I have no proof other than their assurance. Anti-climactic…
Since beginning my
account here, I have received another
SMS — this time from the Likud party itself. They apparently have decided to
extend the election hours until midnight tonight due to the technical
difficulties, rather than invalidating the day’s primaries. I’m of two minds. I don’t want to have to go
back and vote again. Indeed, I might not have the time to do so later in the
week. On the other hand, as the current Minister of Education, Gidon Saar was
quoted on the radio as saying: “these primaries are a farce.”
Four more SMSs... And I, I never
cease to be amazed at my own continued naïveté.
SIGH
