An attempt to prevent Israelis abroad from voting? The mysterious "malfunction" just before the deadline
Israelis living overseas report that all systems for verifying voting eligibility have crashed, just one day before the deadline for registration. Citizens fear arriving in Israel only to find they have been removed from the voter registry: "We pay National Insurance and cannot exercise our right." Ministry of Interior: We are aware of the problem and are considering extending the deadlines.
Israelis living abroad who plan to arrive in Israel to vote in the elections are complaining that government systems for verifying their eligibility are not working. The malfunction, which prevents them from verifying their inclusion in the voter registry, is occurring just one day before the deadline for finalizing registration.
According to election law, only citizens included in the voter registry are eligible to exercise their right to vote at the polling station. However, Israelis whose center of life is not in Israel are sometimes removed from the registry, whether following a proactive request to remove residency status or for other reasons. This means that citizens planning to invest time and money to arrive in Israel on election day may discover in retrospect that they are not eligible to vote. At this stage, they have no technological way to check their status before booking their flight.
"We tried every way – the systems are not working"
Frustration among Israelis in the diaspora is high. Omer, an Israeli living in Vienna, said he tried to verify his eligibility in every possible way, including WhatsApp, text messages, and an automated voice response, but none of the platforms are functioning. According to him, even though he and many other Israelis pay National Insurance contributions and are considered citizens for all intents and purposes, they are being denied the basic right to influence.
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Omer is not the only one encountering the problem. Dozens of citizens responded to a post published by Knesset candidate from the "Democrats" party, Yaya Fink, who called on Israelis abroad to come to Israel and vote, describing a similar situation and claiming they have no way to check how and if they can vote. Beyond the collapse of the systems, some of the commenters claimed they were given incorrect information by various parties, such as the erroneous claim that it is not possible to vote with a valid Israeli passport but only with an identity card.
From the Ministry of Interior it was stated:
"It should be emphasized that the final registry, which will be derived from the registry data on September 3, 2026, will include every person who, on the date of derivation, is an Israeli citizen registered, along with their address, in the Population Registry as a resident, and whose 18th birthday falls no later than election day. Changes that will be updated and approved by the Population and Immigration Authority by the date of the final registry derivation, 3/9/2026, will be included in it."
