Almost a full seat lost outside the ballot box: 40,000 women unable to vote

Approximately 40,000 women in unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev are unable to exercise their right to vote due to tribal registration instead of a geographic address, which distances polling stations tens of kilometers from their homes. The Forum of Lawyers for the Negev has appealed to the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, demanding the placement of 35 additional polling stations.

Approximately 40,000 women in unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev are unable to exercise their right to vote, a figure representing an electoral force equivalent to almost a full Knesset seat. The root of the problem: many residents are registered in their ID cards only under the name of their tribe, without a defined geographic address, which ties them to polling stations located tens of kilometers from their homes. The Forum of Lawyers for the Negev has appealed to the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, demanding the placement of at least 35 additional polling stations, one in each unrecognized village. The letter details additional barriers: lack of regular public transportation, dependence on the family car, the burden of childcare, and social restrictions. Residents of the Avda area are required to travel about 65 kilometers to the polling station, and residents of Rahma about 40 kilometers, even though there is a school in their village where a polling station could be set up. Attorney Rula Halihal from Itach-Maaki emphasizes that a basic right that cannot be realized loses its essence, and that the struggle is not focused on the identity of the parties but on the very realization of the right.