Israeli court considers legality of providing parties with voter turnout data
Israel’s High Court of Justice considered whether political parties may receive real-time data on whether a specific voter has cast a ballot. The court’s decision will determine whether parties can use this information in the October 27 election to contact likely supporters who have not yet voted, reports the Jerusalem Post.
Election commission decision
On Sunday, the full composition of Israel’s Central Election Commission, by 19 votes to 11 with three abstentions, allowed party-appointed polling station members to report whether an identified person had voted. These data do not disclose which party or candidate a person voted for.
The commission imposed restrictions: reports are permitted only from regular polling stations and without recording the exact time of voting. The information may be used only to encourage turnout; it may not be transferred to another party or a third-party entity, and the data must be destroyed after the election.
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Privacy and legal grounds
The judges focused on which legislative provision permits information recorded at a polling station to be transferred to an election campaign headquarters. Justice Khaled Kabub repeatedly questioned whether the existing rules were sufficient, emphasizing that only the Knesset is authorized to amend the law. Justice Alex Stein noted that electoral legislation already allows parties to obtain certain data from the voter registry, but asked why campaigns need operational information from polling stations.
Likud party attorney Ilan Bombach said that the commission had properly balanced voters’ privacy with the public interest in increasing election participation. He also argued that parties usually contact people who are already affiliated with them. The judges questioned the argument that a voter’s prior connection to a party reduces the intrusion into their privacy.
Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Solberg banned such notifications on August 4, stating that data available at polling stations for organizing elections cannot be used for political mobilization without the voter’s consent or clear legal authority. Until the High Court’s decision, the procedure approved by the Central Election Commission remains in force.
