Australia’s prime minister is taking some flak, after calling for a national election to take place on Yom Kippur next September. PM Julia Gillard made the announcement yesterday, a move that would mean a shut out at the polls for the nation’s 100,000-strong Jewish community. Jewish leaders within Australia have taken varying sides on the debate, with some calling it an insensitivity and others labeling it a non-issue. Executive Council of Australian Jewry Director Peter Wertheim told reporters, …More

An estimated 80 percent of IDF soldiers voted in the elections for the 19th Knesset yesterday, most of them opting to vote at polling stations on IDF bases throughout the country. Special officers were trained for the task of overseeing the entire voting process taking place at a total of over 750 IDF polling stations. Some 4,000 soldiers were mobilized to operate the polling stations, with each individual station operated by a polling committee consisting of soldiers in their regular service. Early voting began …More

The umbrella group for Jewish communities in Scotland will ask the country's government to refrain from holding a vote on Scottish independence on a Saturday. In a draft response on the Scottish government's Your Scotland, Your Referendum proposal, leaders of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities write that a ballot on a Saturday "would disadvantage Jewish voters since those who observe Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) would not be able to vote on the day of the referendum." One question on the government's …More

Voting causes stress, inducing measurable hormonal changes, researchers in Israel found. A study by researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev determined scientifically that thinking about walking into the voting booth releases a series of hormones such as cortisol, known as the “stress hormone." "We understand that emotional changes are related and affect various physiological processes, but we were surprised that voting in democratic elections causes emotional reactions accompanied by such …More