Haredi Parties Plan New Voter Monitoring After Supreme Court Bans Polling Data Reports

Following a ruling by Supreme Court Judge Noam Solberg, who also chairs the Elections Committee, Haredi parties in Israel are considering new methods to monitor voter turnout within their communities. The judge prohibited polling station secretaries from reporting in real time to parties about who has voted and who has not, citing privacy violations under the Privacy Protection Law. This decision affects the use of apps that parties have traditionally employed to encourage voter participation by identifying community members who have yet to vote.

In response, Haredi parties are reportedly planning to station observers from each community outside polling stations to manually track which community members have arrived to vote. This approach aims to maintain high voter turnout rates despite the ban on real-time data sharing. The ruling emphasizes that election laws do not authorize party representatives to transmit such information for party activities without explicit legal permission.

The decision is expected to significantly impact ground campaign operations, particularly for parties like the Haredim that rely heavily on immediate voter data to mobilize their base. Judge Solberg ruled that sharing information about the act of voting, including the time and type of polling station, constitutes an invasion of privacy and is therefore prohibited. This marks a notable shift in election day procedures and party campaign strategies in Israel.