Research and “WASTED VOTES" Information A Look at Invalid Ballots and Votes Center The for Lists that did not Cross the Electoral Threshold www.knesset.gov.il/mmm April 5th 2021 | 23 Nisan 5781

During the vote-counting process of each national election, many votes are not THE VOTE-COUNTING included in the calculation of how seats in PROCESS the Knesset are to be distributed among the electoral lists. These can be seen as "wasted votes." There are two types of "wasted votes”: Total number of voters Invalid ballots Valid ballots that were cast for lists that did not cross the electoral threshold, which is currently set at 3.25%. Although neither type of ballot is taken into account when calculating the number of Knesset seats that each list receives, there is an important distinction between the two. Because only valid ballots are counted for the purpose of calculating the electoral threshold, invalid ballots are not taken into account for this calculation, while valid ballots cast for lists Invalid Number of valid ballots, used to that did not cross the electoral threshold are. ballots calculate the electoral threshold

“WASTED VOTES” 20 th Knesset–24th Knesset

Votes for lists that Invalid Percentage of did not cross the votes “wasted votes” (out electoral threshold of the total number of voters) 366,016 Votes for lists that Number of votes required did not cross the for each Knesset seat 189,517

126,704 electoral threshold (the general indicator) 43,854 30,983 36,901 64,752 28,362 25,073 26,752

Division of 5.48% 9.15% 3.47% 1.34% 2.05% seats among 20th 21 th 22th 23th 24th the lists Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Valid votes cast for lists that did not cross the electoral threshold The electoral threshold is the percentage of the total valid ballots that a list must receive in order to enter the Knesset. The electoral threshold has gradually been raised over the years: Until the elections for the 12th Knesset (1988) the electoral threshold was 1%. From the elections for the 13th Knesset (1992) to the elections for the 16th Knesset (2003), the electoral threshold was 1.5%. From the elections for the 17th Knesset (2006) to the elections for the 19th Knesset (2013), the electoral threshold was 2%. After the elections for the 19th Knesset, the electoral threshold was raised to 3.25%, and it has not been changed since.

PERCENTAGE OF VOTES CAST FOR LISTS THAT DID NOT CROSS THE ELECTORAL THRESHOLD (OUT OF ALL VALID BALLOTS)

Electoral threshold

3.25%

2%

1. 5 %

1% 0.83% % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % 0.6 0.7 4.8 2.7 2.8 2.6 5.8 3.1 4.5 8.5 0.8 1.5 8.6 2.4 4.6 2.9 1.1 5.2 2.4 5.0 6.0 4.2 7.1 2.9 Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset st st rd rd th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th nd nd 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2 21 23 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 24 22 Constituent Assembly- Constituent

As the graph shows, there has been a great deal of fluctuation in the number of valid votes that were cast for lists that did not cross the electoral threshold. Invalid ballots According to Section 76 of the Knesset Elections Law (Consolidated Version), 1969, ballots are to be printed in accordance with a template approved by the Central THE FOLLOWING VOTES Elections Committee, and they must bear nothing but ARE INVALID the letter—or the name and letter—of a given list. In addition, a list may add the Arabic letter and name approved by the Central Elections Committee, which correspond to the Hebrew letter and name. Voters may Ballots use a Hebrew-only ballot or a ballot in Hebrew with marked with Arabic translation. Blank something ballots other than the Up to and including the elections for the Seventh list’s letter or Knesset, envelopes with two or more ballots were name disqualified. Those elections saw the disqualification of 60,000 votes — 4.2% of all the votes cast. Upon Ballots in Ballots examination, it was found that most of these were envelopes with marked with invalidated because two or more identical ballots marks that something could reveal had been placed in a single envelope. As a result, in other than a the voter's blue pen May 1973, the Knesset approved an amendment to identity the Knesset Elections Law whereby an envelope with two identical ballots would not be invalidated. In the following two elections, the number of disqualified Envelopes Envelopes אא אא containing containing more than אא בב ballots was significantly lower. The law was further two or more amended in 2017 so that an envelope with three non-identical three identical אא אא identical ballots would likewise not be invalidated. ballots ballots

Envelopes Envelopes All invalid ballots are counted as a single unit, other than the lacking the with no distinction made between the reasons ones provided signature of for their disqualification. Therefore, even though by the Central two members some voters may cast a blank ballot as a protest Elections of the poll Committee committee vote, these blank ballots are not counted separately from other invalid ballots.

NUMBER OF INVALID VOTES (OUT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF VOTERS) % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % 1.23 1.08 2.61 2.51 2.90 3.05 4.22 2.14 1.35 0.88 0.86 0.97 0.80 2.17 1.91 1.64 1.56 1.26 1.07 1.03 0.71 0.64 0.54 0.59 Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset Knesset st st rd rd th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th nd nd 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2 21 23 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 24 22 Constituent Assembly- Constituent Examination of the data on the votes cast for electoral lists that did not cross the electoral threshold points to a distinction between a relatively small number of lists that were fairly close to the threshold and a larger number of lists that were quite far from it. The diagram below presents the following data the last four elections: the number of votes cast for lists that did not cross the electoral threshold but received at least 1% of the valid votes, and the total number of votes cast for lists that received less than 1% of all the valid votes.

VOTES FOR LISTS THAT DID NOT CROSS THE ELECTORAL THRESHOLD (OUT OF ALL VALID BALLOTS)

Yachad Crossed: Did not cross: (125,158 votes) 2.97% 20th 95.50% 4.50% Green Leaf (4,021,367 (189,517 (47,180 votes) 1.21% Knesset votes) votes) 13 other lists (17,179 votes) 0.41%

New Right (138,598 votes) 3.22% Crossed: Did not cross: 91.51 % 8.49% th (118,031 votes) 2.74% 21 (3,943,254 (366,016 Knesset votes) votes) Gesher (74,701 votes) 1.73% 26 other lists (34,686 votes) 0.80%

Crossed: Did not cross: % % th 97.14 2.86 (83,609 votes) 1.88% 22 (4,310,102 (126,704 Knesset votes) votes) 19 other lists (43,095 votes) 0.97%

Crossed: Did not cross: th 99.20% 0.80% 21 lists 23 (4,533,161 (36,901 (36,901 votes) 0.80% Knesset votes) votes)

Crossed: Did not cross: th 98.53% 1.47% 25 lists 24 (4,345,300 (64,752 (64,752 votes) 1.47% Knesset votes) votes)

Sources: Knesset website: www.knesset.gov.il ■ Central Elections Committee, bechirot.gov.il ■ Democracy Institute, Elections and parties, accessed, March 2nd 2021 ■ Assaf Shapiro, What happens to invalid votes?, Israel Democracy Institute, February 17th 2021 [Hebrew] ■ Meir Chazan, The preparations for the elections to the Constituent Assembly in 1949, in Mordechai Bar-On and Meir Chazan (eds.), Politics in wartime: Studies on the civilian society during the Israeli War of Independence, Jerusalem, 2014, pp. 88–126 [Hebrew] ■ Judah Troen, The electoral threshold and changes over time: A comparative review, Knesset Research and Information Center, January 20th 2019 [Hebrew] ■ Rinat Benita, Spotlight on the Israeli elections for the 22nd Knesset, Knesset Research and Information Center, September 3rd 2019 [Hebrew] ■ Central Elections Committee for the Twenty-third Knesset, Appendix to the memorandum on the results of the elections for the 23rd Knesset: Details on the distribution of mandates, March 2020 [Hebrew].

Written by: Rami Schwartz | Approved by: Orly Almagor Lotan | Language editing: Knesset Record staff | Graphic design: Knesset Printing and Publications Department