Central Elections Committee allows parties to use real-time voting data on election day

The Central Elections Committee on Sunday voted to allow party-appointed polling station workers to tell their campaign headquarters who has and has not voted already on election day. The practice, done through the Elector app, has been used in particular by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and by ultra-Orthodox factions in order to mobilize supporters by reaching out to those who haven’t yet gone to the polls. Last month, Central Elections Committee Chairman Noam Sohlberg banned it, arguing in his response to a petition by legal activist Shachar Ben Meir that the data-sharing violated voters’ right to privacy. But after Likud filed a petition against that decision, the High Court of Justice decided last week that the whole committee — which reflects the balance of parties in the Knesset — should decide on the matter, not the chairman. The plenum decided Sunday, in a 19-11 vote, to reject Sohlberg’s decision, though it stipulated that workers cannot send data on when, specifically, people voted, that they cannot pass the data on to any third parties, and that they must destroy the data after the elections. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms Likud had strongly objected to Sohlberg’s decision, arguing in the High Court that he did not have the authority to make it, and that the practice was a key part of the party’s election day operations which should not be banned now, so close to the October 27 elections. A hearing on a petition filed by the Likud party against the Central Elections Committee’s decision to prohibit the real-time transfer of information on voters who have cast their ballots during Israel’s general election, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, September 2, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) The court said that the question of whether Sohlberg had the authority to ban the practice was “difficult” and “complex,” and so referred the decision to the CEC plenum. The justices did, however, agree that the practice was a violation of the right to privacy. Another hearing will still be held on Wednesday, but it is a formality. Advertisement It is possible, however, that the CEC’s decision will be challenged in a new petition to the High Court over the privacy issue. The current debate does not concern the issue of leaks, which have plagued the system in the past. In 2021, hackers published personal details of all voters in Israel, after a database inadvertently exposed the full name, sex, home address, and, in many cases, cellphone number and responses to political polling for 6.5 million adults. Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 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