Central Elections Committee bans poll workers from tracking who’s voted, sharing info with parties

Central Elections Committee chairman Noam Sohlberg bans polling station workers and party observers from sharing information about who has voted, explaining in a statement that noting voters’ identities “constitutes a violation of privacy and is not permitted under the provisions of the Privacy Protection Law.”

Sohlberg, who is also the deputy president of the High Court of Justice, asserts that “election laws do not authorize party representatives to transfer this information for the purpose of party activity, and in the absence of express authorization the transfer of information is prohibited.”

The ruling comes in response to a petition by Shahar Ben Meir objecting to the practice of party representatives using dedicated apps to keep track of who has voted in order to allow them to approach supporters who have not yet done so and encourage them to cast ballots.

Doing so “violates the right to privacy and the secrecy of elections,” the committee declares, adding that the petition was opposed by the Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism and Religious Zionism parties while other parties did not weigh in on the matter.