Israeli Election Committee Bans Real-Time Voter Turnout Reporting to Parties

The Chairman of Israel's Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Solberg, has issued a groundbreaking ruling that prohibits political party representatives and observers at polling stations from transmitting real-time information about who has voted to their parties. This decision, announced on Tuesday, effectively ends the long-standing practice of using mobile applications to track voter turnout during election day.

For years, parties across the political spectrum have relied on these apps to identify supporters who had not yet voted, enabling targeted voter mobilization efforts such as phone calls, messages, and transportation arrangements. Judge Solberg ruled that information about whether a person has voted, including details like the time and polling station type, constitutes private data protected under Israel's Privacy Protection Law. Since party representatives access this information solely in their official capacity at polling stations, they are not authorized to share it for political purposes without explicit legal authorization.

The ruling followed a petition filed by attorney Shahar Ben Meir and the Privacy Protection Clinic at Tel Aviv University, which argued that real-time reporting infringes on voter privacy and undermines the secrecy of the ballot. Ahead of the decision, the Likud, Shas, and United Torah Judaism parties defended the practice, with Religious Zionism siding with Likud, while other parties did not formally respond.

Judge Solberg emphasized that his ruling interprets existing law and does not comment on future legal frameworks. He recommended a comprehensive review of the relationship between election laws and privacy protections, especially in light of recent technological advances. Parties remain permitted to use voter registry information to contact eligible voters, but this data does not include whether those voters have already cast ballots.

This ruling is expected to significantly limit parties' ability to conduct election day voter turnout operations as done in previous elections, requiring them to find alternative methods to encourage voter participation in the 2026 elections and beyond.