The World Zionist Congress’ election committee has identified thousands more suspicious votes that were cast in the ongoing American election, after rejecting nearly 2,000 votes that were deemed to have been fraudulent earlier this month, multiple sources in Israel and the United States told eJewishPhilanthropy.

The Area Election Committee, which oversees the election, has not identified the slates for whom the votes were cast.

Together with the original tossed votes — which represented more than 2% of the total votes at that point — these additional suspect ballots represent a significant percentage of the total votes cast, which likely means that there will be a delay in releasing the results of the election, which ends May 4, in order to conduct a thorough audit of ballots.

The American Zionist Movement, which is running the election, said that it would not comment on the matter as the investigation was underway but said that it was “dedicated to ensuring a fair and transparent election and vigilant in identifying and stopping any fraudulent behavior. We are committed to completing a comprehensive investigation and effectively resolving the current issue.”

The slates running in the election were informed about the matter in a meeting on Thursday, the sources said, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. 

David Yaari, the chair of the “general Zionist” Kol Israel slate and chair of the World Confederation of the United Zionists, confirmed to eJP that the slates had been informed of the newly identified suspect ballots.

“If there is indeed proof of voter fraud by any of the parties, not only must those votes be disqualified, but those parties must be sanctioned and penalized,” Yaari said on Friday, adding that multiple offenders need to be disqualified entirely from the election. “Without penalty, it’s an incentive to continue fraud.”

The World Zionist Congress’ American elections, which are held every five years, determine who will represent roughly a third of the democratic body and sways who controls an annual budget of more than $1 billion, as well as the authority to speak on behalf of Zionist Jews worldwide. This year’s election is already the largest on record, both in terms of the number of votes cast and the number of slates running. As of April 15, with almost three weeks to go, nearly 124,000 votes had been cast for the 22 slates in the election, already more than the roughly 123,000 votes that were cast in the 2020 election, according to AZM.

Figures within the Zionist movement describe the suspected voter fraud as a two-fold issue: an immediate, practical problem that needs to be addressed and a more insidious act that deteriorates overall trust in the institution.

Yaari, who decried the “mudslinging” that has been seen in the current election, added that he believed that the Zionist movement needed to entirely overhaul the election system to better make use of technological solutions to make the process more efficient and transparent. “The Zionist movement needs to innovate the election. The election irregularities and alleged fraud can be fixed with innovation and new digital solutions,” he said, citing the blockchain as a potential solution for authenticating voters. 

“Every territory and every [Zionist] federation should hold elections in 2030, and the Zionist movement should create the technological solution through innovation to solve these problems,” said Yaari, who is also vice chair of the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund. 

Earlier this month, eJP revealed that the AEC had identified some 1,900 votes that were found to be suspect, having been tied to apparently randomly generated email addresses, prepaid credit cards or suspicious addresses. All of them were cast for the same two unidentified slates. After evaluating the matter, the AEC decided to reject all of the suspicious ballots and said that it did not yet have evidence of direct involvement by the slates in question in the fraudulent voting scheme. It added that it would continue to investigate the matter.

“Intentionally submitting fraudulent votes is not just immoral, it is a federal crime. We intend to conduct a forensic analysis to identify all those who submit suspect votes and we will continue our vigilant observation of this election. If appropriate, we will refer the matter and any perpetrators to the relevant law enforcement authorities,” according to the statement, signed by AEC chairs Abraham J. Gafni and David J. Butler.

Several slates, mainly those in the center and on the left, demanded that the AEC take more forceful action in response to the fraudulent votes, calling for the slates in question to be disqualified from the election and for the voters involved to be barred from voting in the future. 

“Without the broader disqualifications, the lesson is that fraud is a low-risk tactic, with few consequences if caught. This message is inconsistent with our need to have an honest 2025 election conducted with integrity,” according to a letter signed by the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), Mercaz, Dorshei Torah V’Tzion, Kol Israel and AID Coalition, as well as organizations on behalf of Hatikvah. A spokesperson for Mercaz, the American Conservative/Masorti Movement’s slate, told eJP that a number of other slates that did not sign the letter agreed that slates who received the votes should be disqualified, but were not prepared to sign on to all of the provisions and language in the missive.

The progressive slate ANU (A New Union) sent its own letter to the AZM calling for election accountability and the dismissal of the slates involved. Roei Eisenberg, ANU’s executive director, told eJP that the pall cast over the election because of the fraudulent votes may be discouraging people to participate entirely. “The more people feel like this is a corrupt election, this election is rigged, the less we’re able to persuade them to vote, not just for us, but just to vote at all,” said Eisenberg. 

Nira Daynim contributed to this report.