Israeli parties allowed to find out in real time who has voted
Israel’s Central Elections Committee has allowed political party representatives at polling stations to report in real time which voters have already cast their ballots. The decision, adopted ahead of the October 27 election, restores one of the tools for mobilizing voters on election day, The Jerusalem Post reports.
This does not concern information about whom a person voted for: ballot secrecy remains protected. Parties will be able to learn only the fact that a specific voter participated in the election and compare this data with their databases in order to contact supporters who have not yet come to polling stations.
Restrictions on the use of data
The committee approved a proposal supported by the Likud party by 19 votes to 11, while three other participants abstained. The transfer of such information was allowed under a number of conditions: data cannot be transferred from special polling stations, parties are prohibited from recording the time an individual voted, and the information may be used exclusively to encourage participation in elections.
It is prohibited to transfer this information to other parties or third-party organizations. The data must be destroyed after the election. Attorney Ilan Bombach, who represents Likud in the court proceedings, presented the proposal at the meeting.
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Court to consider privacy dispute
The committee’s decision is not final in the legal dispute. On Wednesday, the High Court of Justice will continue hearing Likud’s petition after the parties inform the court of the electoral body’s decision.
In August, committee chairman and Deputy President of the Supreme Court Noam Sohlberg prohibited the transfer of personalized data on voter participation to parties. He, the attorney general and the Privacy Protection Authority indicated that information received by polling station officials for organizing and overseeing elections cannot be used in political activities without legal grounds.
Sohlberg also stressed that information about the fact and time of voting, as well as the circumstances of participation in elections, constitutes personal data. Particular risks may arise at polling stations in hospitals, prisons, women’s shelters and other special voting locations, since the very fact of voting there may reveal sensitive information about a person. This is why such polling stations were excluded from the new data transfer procedure.
