Amit Assa, a former senior official in the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, addressed concerns today (Tuesday) on C14’s special election broadcast about potential fraud in Arab sector voting. He argued that unusual overcrowding at polling stations could hamper oversight and enable irregularities—including repeat voting using other people’s identity cards.
“We have a lot of data pointing to fraud, and to methods of fraud in the Arab sector. We need to take this into account,” Assa said. He stressed that while observers and monitors are stationed at polling places, high turnout rates could make their work harder.
When large numbers of voters arrive simultaneously, he explained, pressure builds on polling committee members. “This obviously causes them to speed up their work, and under that rush and pressure there are of course irregularities and quite likely fraud as well.” Asked how women wearing veils are identified at polling stations, Assa explained that the identification process must be conducted while respecting their dignity and cultural sensitivities—but claimed the procedure could be exploited for impersonation.
“There’s obviously a fraud component in this. We know this from the past: they come one after another, go home, bring several identity cards, go to the back of the line, and of course enter again,” Assa said, clarifying these were alleged claims. Assa added that the overcrowding makes oversight difficult, and in extreme cases requires intervention by regional election committees. He said hundreds of complaints have been received from the field: “There are currently reports from the field of about 700 complaints from monitors and observers to the Central Elections Committee. This is something that needs to be dealt with.”