Guide to the election
By Nina Gilbert

(February 5) - Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. Voting centers with fewer than 350 voters open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Election Day is a national holiday. Restaurants, places of entertainment, and transportation, including gas stations, will operate normally.

Grocery stores are to open at 6 a.m. and close at 12 p.m. Hospitals will operate on a Shabbat schedule.

Voters must identify themselves to polling officials with an Interior Ministry identity card. However, the attachment with personal details is not required.

Only one ballot is to be cast in this election, since only a prime minister is being elected. After registration, voters receive a yellow envelope. Yellow ballot slips are situated behind a voting booth, where the voter puts one ballot in the envelope. Upon exiting the booth, the voter puts the envelope containing the ballot into the ballot box.

Information cards mailed to all eligible voters are not required for voting, but make it easier to find the voter's polling booth and center location. A replica of the card can be printed from the Central Elections Committee's Web site: www.elections.gov.il. Details must be entered in Hebrew.

Voting eligibility and polling center confirmation can be obtained today and tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in English at 1-800-200-135. The main hot line in Hebrew is 1-800-200-131.

Voters who are situated more than 20 km from the town or city where they are registered to vote are entitled to travel free on public transportation to their polling station. An identity card with the address attachment must be presented. Transportation is available on Egged, Dan's No. 400 bus, and Israel Railways.

On Egged, tickets can be obtained at the cashier or on the bus. For Dan, tickets are only available on the buses, while for a train ride tickets must be obtained from cashiers.

Tickets to and from Eilat and Arava communities must be reserved, and are valid for an overnight trip. Egged information is 03-6948888; Dan is 03-639-4444; and Israel Railways is 03-5774000.

Special arrangements have been made for voters in Beitar, and information is available at 02-548-2866.

Hospital patients and staff who are in facilities with more than 50 beds can vote on location. Women in shelters do not have to travel home to vote and can vote instead by double envelope in a polling station that is designated as accessible for handicapped citizens.