"This might be a record," he acknowledged.
Jerusalem, November 20 - A US expatriate living in Israel's capital has just received the form he must complete to vote in the presidential election, scheduled for November 5, that he requested several months ago, the recipient reported today.
Avi Feldman, 45, last registered to vote in New Jersey, told reporters this morning that at just after eight a.m., the Israel Postal Service delivered his mail-in ballot for the 2024 presidential election, a mere two weeks and one day after Election Day itself and the deadline for its submission.
"This might be a record," he acknowledged. "Back in 2020 I think I got it after a month and a half. In 2016 it came after about three weeks, and in 2012, if memory serves, I never got a ballot at all." Feldman moved to Israel in 2006.
The father of four admitted feeling only mild annoyance at the futility of requesting an absentee ballot. "Yeah, it might be nice to actually participate in the American civic process," he explained, "but in New Jersey, my vote will not make a difference one way or the other. The first time I voted in a presidential election was in 2000, when I still lived in Passaic, and even back then I knew [Democratic Party candidate Al] Gore would get all the electoral votes."
In most jurisdictions, absentee ballots go uncounted unless, when the regular ballot count ends, the discrepancy between the candidates' totals is less than the number of absentee ballots received. Since, in New Jersey, the Democratic candidate has consistently garnered at least 51% of the vote - and as much as 58.4% in 2012 - Feldman knows that his absentee ballot, even if he had the opportunity to get it there before Election Day, would not even be opened, let alone make a difference in the vote count.
"It's just as well, because I'm not sure the Israeli postal system would even get the ballot to me on time in the first place," he surmised. "I know the Board of Elections stateside sends out the requested ballot more or less immediately when the application comes in. The problem is not on their end, for once. I'm thinking instead of that elaborate beeper sabotage operation the Mossad ran against Hezbollah and the IRGC, it might have been more efficient to just impose the Israeli postal system and that would hamper communications systematically."
His 2008 ballot arrived last week.
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