The battle for the elderly vote: Supreme Court discusses petitions to open polling stations in nursing homes
56 senior citizens, the Association of Organizations for the Elderly, and the Marva organization filed a petition demanding accessible voting for nursing home residents. Supreme Court President Isaac Amit said at the hearing: "The previous arrangement worked excellently in the last elections."
The Supreme Court discussed today, Tuesday, petitions demanding the opening of polling stations for the elderly in nursing homes on election day. The first petition was filed by 56 senior citizens residing in a nursing home against the Knesset, the Central Elections Committee, and the Attorney General. Another petition was filed by the Association of Organizations for the Elderly in Israel and the Marva organization.
Attorney Yuval Yoaz, representing the petitioners, stated:
"We all agree that senior citizens should vote. We must ensure the realization of their right to choose. This is a unique situation. How do we make this happen in light of the legal reality forced upon us in the Knesset? The discussion must be practical and urgent: how, within the framework of constitutional and interpretive remedies, can we pave the way to ensure that the right to choose does not remain a festive declaration but is realized."
Supreme Court President, Justice Isaac Amit, remarked: "The previous arrangement worked excellently in the last elections; I say this as the former chairman of the Central Elections Committee."
Attorney Yoaz responded: "The administrative solution is partial; it depends on the consent of nursing homes and requires opening the place to all voters, including those who are not residents of the place. Therefore, judicial intervention is required. The professionals came, the Constitution Committee listened and said, 'I am not interested.'"
Attorney Gilad Barnea, another representative of the petitioners, added: "We proposed a solution to the Central Elections Committee and the Minister of Interior. Regarding a person living in an institution whose address is elsewhere, they are apparently assigned to a different polling station, but this can be solved with accessible polling stations. The things are quite simple—we have a fundamental right that has a limitation, and there are people who, due to the limitation, will not be able to realize the right at all or will do so in a limited way, and there is an arrangement that will allow them to."
The first petitioners, through attorneys Yuval Yoaz and Doron Barkat, requested an order nisi, instructing representatives of the Knesset, the government, and the Central Elections Committee to explain why the decision of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee to remove from the Law on Elections to the 26th Knesset the chapter dealing with placing polling stations in nursing homes did not harm the right of residents to vote. This is a right listed in the Basic Law: The Knesset, in human dignity, in the principle of equality in elections, and in the fundamental principle of election law according to which the rules of the game are not changed while the game is in progress. They further requested that the court order that the temporary provision established in the previous election law regarding the placement of polling stations in nursing homes be applied to the elections for the 26th Knesset as a temporary provision.
