Israeli Elections: Double-Envelope Vote Count Could Affect Results in

Key Takeaways

• Military personnel, prisoners, patients and staff in hospitals, diplomats stationed abroad and voters with disabilities cast their ballots through
• TEL AVIV, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Oct, 2026) Despite preliminary results emerging after Israel’s elections, the vote-counting process
• Most Israeli voters cast their ballots at designated polling stations, where counting begins as soon as voting ends
• However, military personnel, prisoners, patients and staff in hospitals, diplomats stationed abroad and voters with disabilities cast their ballots
• Under this procedure, a voter places a secret ballot in an inner envelope, which is sealed inside an outer envelope containing the voter’s personal

Military personnel, prisoners, patients and staff in hospitals, diplomats stationed abroad and voters with disabilities cast their ballots through the double-envelope system, Israeli media reported.

TEL AVIV, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Oct, 2026) Despite preliminary results emerging after Israel’s elections, the vote-counting process may continue for several hours and, in some cases, several days, largely because of a special voting procedure known as the “double-envelope” system.

Most Israeli voters cast their ballots at designated polling stations, where counting begins as soon as voting ends. However, military personnel, prisoners, patients and staff in hospitals, diplomats stationed abroad and voters with disabilities cast their ballots through the double-envelope system.

Under this procedure, a voter places a secret ballot in an inner envelope, which is sealed inside an outer envelope containing the voter’s personal details. These envelopes are transferred to the Central Elections Committee, where the details on the outer envelopes are compared with records from registered polling stations to verify that no voter cast a ballot twice.

After verification is completed, the inner envelopes are separated and the votes are counted.

The verification process takes time, meaning the preliminary results announced on election night could change.

According to the Central Elections Committee, the number of voters casting ballots through double envelopes this year is expected to reach its highest level to date. The committee expects approximately 650,000 Israeli voters to use this method, compared with 460,000 in the 2022 elections.

The increase is mainly attributed to the deployment of a large number of military reservists who are unable to vote in their home areas because they are stationed elsewhere.

Estimates suggest that counting these ballots could affect the results in approximately 15 seats on election night, potentially bringing significant changes to the parliamentary positions of various political parties.

In the past, double-envelope votes generally made a difference of one to two seats. However, given the nature of these voters, the ballots could affect the results of ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and Arab parties in particular.

The votes could prove decisive for parties hovering around the 3.25 percent electoral threshold required to win a parliamentary seat.

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