Ballot Letters and How to Make Your Vote Count

You vote for letters, not names

Israelis do not tick a box or write a candidate's name. Each list has a short code of Hebrew letters. You pick up the paper slip that carries your list's letters, put it in an envelope and drop the envelope in the box.

That makes the letters the most important detail on election day. A slip for the wrong list is a vote for the wrong list. Several letter codes differ by a single character.

The Central Elections Committee approved the letters on Sunday 27 September 2026. Thirty-eight lists qualified. Most will win no seats. Eleven or so have a real chance.

Two details from the letter draw are worth knowing:

• Naftali Bennett wanted ב and lost. The letter went to Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit. Bennett's list, Together, got רק, which means "only".
• Gan Eden's first choice was refused. It asked for יה, which the committee rejected because it reads as a name of God. The list got ה instead.

Every list and its letters

Lists with a profile page are linked. Letters are shown as they appear on the slip.

Ra'am and the Joint List were approved on 27 September only conditionally. The Central Elections Committee had moved to bar both. On Friday 2 October the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the bans, so both are on the ballot. It upheld a separate ban on one Joint List MK, Ofer Cassif, by 7 to 2. Balad's Sami Abou Shahadeh had already ended his candidacy.

The lookalikes that cause mistakes

Some letter codes are one character apart. These are the pairs and groups to double-check, because a quick glance can send your vote to the wrong list.

• ב family. ב is Otzma Yehudit. בד is Together We Will Succeed. בי is Tzomet Beit Israel. בקר is Orot HaShachar.
• ק family. ק is Tekuma. קה is Kol HaNashim. קץ is Justice Court. קך is New Order. Also watch יק and נקי.
• ד family. ד is The Partnership for Everyone. די is the Reservists. דרך is Yashar. The final letter ך (Amcha) also looks close to ד.
• ז family. ז is Betach. זך is the Haredi Public. זץ is World Covenant.
• נ family. ני is Noam. נף, נץ, נר and נקי are four small lists that share the same first letter.
• י and ני. י is Israel First. ני is Noam.

The rule is simple. Read every letter, not the first one. Do not rely on a logo, a color or a photo of a leader.

How to vote, step by step

Voting day is Tuesday 27 October 2026. Most polling stations are open 7:00 to 22:00. Small stations, hospitals and prisons run shorter hours, around 8:00 to 20:00. Anyone in the queue when a station closes can still vote. There is one day of voting and no early voting for the general public.

1. Find your station before the day. Go to the station printed on the voter notice mailed to you. Only that station has your name on its roll. If the notice did not arrive, look up your station by ID number on the Central Elections Committee site, bechirot.gov.il, or through the Interior Ministry.
2. Bring original photo ID. An Israeli ID card, a driving licence or a passport. Take the ID card if you have one.
3. Show your ID. The committee checks it and crosses you off the list. You get a stamped envelope.
4. Go behind the partition alone. No one may come in with you unless you physically cannot vote by yourself.
5. Take one slip for your list. Check the letters twice.
6. Put the one slip in the envelope and seal it.
7. Drop the envelope in the box. Then collect your ID.

The whole thing takes a few minutes.

What makes a vote invalid

• Slips for two different lists in one envelope. The envelope is void and nothing counts. Take one slip.
• Writing on a printed slip. A tick, a name or a note can disqualify it.
• A loose slip with no envelope. That is not a vote.
• An empty envelope. It counts for nobody.

If your list's tray has run out, ask the committee for a blank official slip and write your list's letters on it by hand. Hebrew or Arabic letters are accepted. A blank slip with nothing on it is void.

If you arrive at a station that does not have your name, you may be offered a double envelope. That vote is checked later against your registered station and counted only if you did not vote twice. Treat it as a last resort. Go to your own station.

Who votes where

• Israelis abroad cannot vote. There is no postal, absentee or consulate voting. The exceptions are diplomats posted overseas, their families and Israeli seamen. Diplomats vote earlier, on 20 October.
• Soldiers vote at military polling stations. Some of those open before election day.
• Hospital patients, nursing home residents and prisoners vote in mobile or on-site stations.
• Mobility limits. Fully accessible stations are available. Check the committee for the list.
• You must be an Israeli citizen aged 18 or older by election day, and listed as resident at an address. The voter roll was fixed from the Population Registry on 3 September 2026. Permanent residents who are not citizens vote only in municipal elections.

Election day is a paid day off for most workers.

Will your vote count?

Every valid ballot counts toward your list's national total. Israel has no districts, so it makes no difference where you live. A vote in Eilat counts the same as a vote in Tel Aviv.

There is one catch. A list must win 3.25% of the valid vote, about 4 seats' worth, to win any seats at all. A vote for a list under that line does not elect anyone. It is not counted toward any seat. The leftover seats go to the lists that cleared.

That has real history. In April 2019, Bennett's New Right missed the threshold by about 1,400 votes. In 2022, Meretz missed by about 4,000. See Election Math and How to Read the Polls for how the line works.

This guide does not tell you whom to vote for. Here is what is worth knowing if you are deciding between a small list and a larger one:

• Check the polls for lists near the line. Polls disagree about whether Amcha and the Reservists will clear 3.25%, and Blue and White has not won seats in the recent polls tracked here. The poll tracker shows every poll side by side. Read why the polls are so hard to trust before you lean on any single number.
• Surplus-vote agreements can rescue leftover votes. Pairs of lists sign deals to share their leftovers. The deadline to sign is 16 October. See Surplus-Vote Agreements.
• A vote for a small list is still a legitimate vote. Some voters choose a list on principle, even when it might fall short. That is their right. The point is that you choose it knowing the line is there.

Election day checklist

• I know which station is mine.
• I have my original photo ID.
• I know my list's letters, and I have checked the lookalikes.
• I will take one slip.
• I will not write on a printed slip.

Rules can change late. The Central Elections Committee at bechirot.gov.il is the final word on election day.