Left activist urges chareidim to write B'SD on ballot to void it

A well-known left-wing activist named Doni Machluf posted a call on X urging chareidi voters to write the words "B'SD" in the top corner of their ballot slips, attaching an image of a ballot with the inscription. The aim: to trick voters into invalidating their own ballots, since any handwritten addition violates election law.

"It's a chutzpah that in the Jewish state they didn't print B'SD on the ballot slips," Machluf wrote in the post. "So I recommend everyone bring a pen to the polling station and add B'SD in the top corner of the slip. It will both strengthen your vote and stick a finger in the eye of all the secular people."

The post was shared by senior figures in the Israeli left, including Gonen Ben Itzhak, founder of the Crime Minister movement and a leader of the protests against the government, and Naor Narkis, an activist with the Democrats party.

The problem with the call is that under the rules of the Central Elections Committee (Vaʿadat HaBechiros HaMerkazit), any handwritten addition to a ballot slip can disqualify it. As the committee ruled in a decision concerning the Blue and White list, "if during the vote count ballot slips of the list are found, whether printed or handwritten, they will be considered invalid slips."

Ben Yitzhak, one of those who shared the post, is a lawyer who has in the past represented criminal complaints against right-wing activists. As we reported, the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court recently dismissed the criminal complaints he filed on behalf of plaintiffs against right-wing activist Mordechai David, with the judge criticising the conduct of the complainants throughout the proceedings.

The Central Elections Committee has made it clear that only printed ballot slips with no handwritten additions are considered valid. Any marking, writing or addition to the slip can disqualify it in the count.