Joint List says ‘Israeli’ police seized ballot boxes, halted voting in Ar’ara

• The Joint List said police seized ballot boxes in Ar’ara in the Negev and prevented voting from continuing.
• The reported incident comes amid wider complaints about voting delays, missing Arabic-language ballots and alleged interference at polling stations in Palestinian Arab communities.

The Joint List said ‘Israeli’ police seized ballot boxes in Ar’ara in the Negev and prevented voting from continuing during the Knesset elections on Tuesday, October 27.

The statement raised concerns about access to polling stations in Palestinian Arab communities as voters cast ballots in the elections.

The reported incident comes amid broader complaints about obstacles facing Palestinian voters in several Arab towns and mixed cities.

Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in ‘Israel’, said it had received reports of delays at polling stations, interruptions to voting and shortages of Arabic-language ballot slips. The organization said it had contacted the Central Elections Committee and regional election committees, calling for the complaints to be investigated and addressed.

Reports of missing Arabic-language ballots came from several locations, including Haifa, Nazareth, Shefa-Amr, I’billin, Eilabun and Nof HaGalil, according to Adalah.

The complaints have emerged as turnout rises during the first general election since October 2023. The Central Elections Committee reported turnout of 55.7% by 4 p.m., the highest recorded at that point in an election, according to The Times of Israel.

The election committee said there was no evidence of systematic tampering with ballot slips and that individual complaints were being addressed, the newspaper reported.