Israel High Court bans parties from collecting real-time voter data on election day

Israeli parties will not be permitted to transmit real-time data on voters on election day, the High Court of Justice ruled on Thursday, overturning a previous decision by the Central Elections Committee (CEC) at the beginning of the month.

Prior to the decision, Israeli political parties were permitted to collect data on voters at polling stations and determine whether potential voters had voted. This information was then used to encourage voting.

The CEC approved the practice on September 6; however the court found that the committee did not have the legal authority to approve the practice and that doing so was a violation of Israel's Privacy Protection Law.

"No source of authority in law was presented that empowers party representatives at polling stations to transfer information to their party regarding an individual’s exercise of the right to vote," the ruling stated. "Certainly, no specific, detailed and explicit authorization was presented. The existence of a longstanding practice cannot substitute for the authorization required in order to carry out that practice."

The Likud party's lawyers said the decision was an attack on Likud and was designed to harm the Likud’s electoral operations. "From the Likud's perspective, this is an attack. This is ruining the elections for the party. This is causing tremendous damage to the Likud. The Likud is a veteran party with a large voter database that it has worked hard on for many, many years, and it is clear that it wants to use the information it has."

The Movement for Quality Government, which filed the petition, said, "Information that is disclosed in the course of one’s work at the polls cannot become a tool for monitoring citizens and exerting pressure on them. The decision protects the privacy of voters and their right to choose freely. The movement will continue to work to maintain the purity of the elections and protect free and fair elections."