WASHINGTON (JTA) – Agudath Israel of America registered 18,000 new U.S. voters in the United States and Israel before the U.S. elections.
The U.S. get-out-the-vote drive netted 8,000 new voters and an Israeli operation tracked 10,000 U.S. voters, many of them studying in seminaries.
"Although the main focus of the [U.S.] campaign was in the New York / New Jersey area, the effort spanned the entire country with the support of Agudath Israel’s eight regional offices across the United States," a statement from Aguda said. "The message that Agudath Israel successfully promoted was that one’s vote, in fact, counts. While there has never been a national election that came down to a single vote, and while voting in ‘non-battleground’ state may seem an exercise in futility, the fact remains that choosing to vote is an inherently meaningful act – a fact that has been noted loudly and clearly by Gedolim," the major rabbis.
The statement also noted rabbinical calls on Americans in Israel to vote; some American expatriates have argued that voting in the United States while living in Israel is inappropriate.
