Election Committee Chief Bars UTJ From Receiving Voter Data
Translated & summarized from Makor Rishon by baba
The Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, issued an interim order Tuesday prohibiting the United Torah Judaism party from receiving voter data from polling stations. The order came after the Movement for Quality of Government petitioned, alleging UTJ was trying to circumvent a High Court ban on such data transfers. The party was reportedly using a tracking form and relaying information via phone to bypass the prohibition. UTJ must respond to the order by Tuesday afternoon.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Election Committee Chairman Judge Noam Sohlberg banned United Torah Judaism from receiving voter data.
- The order follows a petition alleging the party tried to bypass a High Court ban on data transfer.
- UTJ representatives were reportedly using a tracking form and phone calls to relay information.
- The ban applies to all methods of information transfer, not just digital means.
- United Torah Judaism must submit a response by Tuesday afternoon.
The Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, issued an interim order Tuesday prohibiting the United Torah Judaism party and its representatives at polling stations from transmitting voter data to the party. The order was issued in response to an urgent petition filed by the Movement for Quality of Government, which alleged that the party was attempting to circumvent a High Court of Justice ruling that banned the transfer of polling station data to parties.
According to documents attached to the petition, United Torah Judaism representatives at polling stations were given a "Voter Turnout Tracking Form." This form instructed them to mark each voter who arrived to cast a ballot, record the time of voting, and report the number of voters to Degel HaTorah's system. To avoid a direct violation of the ban on digital means within polling stations, representatives were reportedly instructed to leave the polling station room and relay the data to the party via telephone.
The petition claims this is an attempt to bypass the High Court's ruling, which prohibited polling station committee members and party observers from transferring voter information to their parties. A clarification issued on October 25 explicitly stated that the prohibition applies to all methods of information transfer, not just digital reporting.
Following the petition, Judge Sohlberg ordered the interim injunction barring the data transfer and demanded that United Torah Judaism submit its response by 2:15 PM on Tuesday.
Mentioned
