Israeli Election Committee Bans Use of Elector App for Voter Tracking at Polls

On Tuesday, Supreme Court Judge Noam Solberg, chair of Israel's Central Elections Committee, ruled that polling station committee members and party observers are prohibited from reporting voter identities to their parties via dedicated apps during election day. The decision targets the use of the "Elector" app, which allowed parties to track who had voted in real time, including details such as voting time and polling station type, violating privacy laws. Solberg emphasized that sharing such information breaches the Privacy Protection Law and is not authorized under election regulations, making it illegal and subject to criminal and civil penalties.

This ruling primarily affects the Likud party but also impacts Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Yisrael Beiteinu, all of which have used Elector or similar apps to identify supporters and opponents to tailor election day campaigns. The apps enabled targeted voter mobilization efforts and even opened avenues for potential fraud. Other parties like Yesh Atid and the National Unity Party used different voter mobilization apps.

The decision followed a petition by attorney Shahar Ben Meir, supported by Tel Aviv University's Privacy Protection Clinic, arguing that real-time voter tracking infringes on voter privacy and ballot secrecy. Coalition parties including Likud, Shas, and United Torah Judaism denied any legal violation, while Religious Zionism sided with Likud. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi criticized the ruling, claiming it undermines parties' ability to mobilize voters, especially right-wing supporters.

Judge Solberg clarified that voter information is provided solely for committee duties and cannot be used to identify or encourage voters who have not yet voted. He called for a comprehensive review of election and privacy laws in light of technological advances. The committee noted parties may still use voter registry data legally for contact purposes but not for tracking actual voting. The Elector app had a major security breach in 2020 exposing personal data of all 6.5 million registered Israeli voters, yet Likud continued its use despite the incident.