High Court bans parties from tracking voters on election day, overruling Elections Committee

The High Court of Justice rules unanimously that the practice of party-appointed polling station representatives tracking which voters have cast their ballots on election day is illegal, and bans the use of such data.

In its ruling, the court says there is no legal basis to permit the practice, and further that it violates a specific clause of the Protection of Privacy Law.

In August, Central Elections Committee (CEC) Chairman and Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg determined that the practice where party-appointed polling station representatives track who has voted and send that data to campaign headquarters was illegal since it violated privacy laws.

The parties, especially the Likud and Haredi parties, use this data to call and message their likely supporters who have not yet voted to go out and vote.

The Likud party then petitioned the High Court arguing that Sohlberg as chairman of the CEC did not have the authority to make such a decision.

As a result, the High Court said that the entire CEC, which reflects the balance of power in the Knesset, should vote on the issue, which it did, ultimately approving the use of voter data.

This decision itself was then appealed to the High Court, resulting in today’s ruling which explicitly annulled the Central Elections Committee decision.

The court also emphasizes that party-appointed polling station representatives are not permitted to transfer data to their parties as to who has voted.