The Knesset has come up with a way to encourage Israelis to vote in the general elections, whether they want to or not: hit them in the pocket.
The Knesset’s Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs voted Monday to approve a bill sponsored by the Yisrael Beiteinu faction chairman, MK Robert Ilatov, that would yank their election day’s wages from workers who do not actually vote on the paid day off.
The measure is meant to increase voter turnout, which hit a record low last March, when only 63.5 percent of the country’s citizens cast their ballots.
If the bill is approved, workers will have to provide their employers with documentation of their presence at the polls on Election Day, a national holiday in the State of Israel.
Ilatov maintained that anyone who wants to protest the selection of available candidates can do so by submitting a white ballot – a blank, in other words. “Not going to the ballot boxes is no such vote,” he added.
Three similar bills are also expected to reach the Knesset floor on Wednesday, sponsored by Likud faction chairman Gideon Saar and coalition whip Kadima MK Yoel Hason.