Supreme Court Overturns Election Committee, Bans Sharing Voter Information

Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a decision by the Central Elections Committee, ruling that information about citizens who have voted cannot be shared in real-time on election day. The court determined that this practice, which had been ongoing, infringes upon the right to privacy and violates the Privacy Protection Law.

In its ruling, authored by Justice Yael Vilner and joined by Justices Alex Stein and Khaled Kabub, the court stated there was no legal basis for the Elections Committee to permit the transfer of voter data to party representatives at polling stations. The judges emphasized that even a long-standing practice cannot substitute for explicit legal authorization.

"The information regarding the exercise of the right to vote is information about a person's political views, perceptions, or worldview, and therefore it is considered 'information of special sensitivity,'" the ruling stated. "Already in the very choice of a person to come or refrain from coming to the polling station to exercise their right to vote lies a value decision."

This decision comes after the Central Elections Committee, which has a coalition majority, had previously rejected a ruling by Judge Noam Solberg that would have prohibited the use of reporting systems from polling stations. The committee had allowed parties to report on voters using applications like "Elector."

MK Simcha Rothman commented on the ruling, suggesting that searching one's phone is less of a privacy violation than the established practice of reporting voter turnout. Attorney Ilan Bombach, representing the Likud party, argued that the ban on sharing voter names would cause "enormous damage" to the party, hindering its ability to utilize its voter database.