Likud Files Supreme Court Petition Against Election Committee Chair Over Voter Data Ban

The Likud party has filed a petition to Israel's Supreme Court challenging a decision by the Central Elections Committee chairman, Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, which prohibits parties from receiving real-time data on which voters have cast ballots during election day. The ruling, issued in early August following a petition by attorney Shahar Ben Meir, aims to protect voter privacy by banning the transmission of information about individual voters' participation, including the time and type of polling station, to parties via apps like Elector, previously used by Likud and others.

Sohlberg ruled that such data sharing violates the Privacy Protection Law and is not authorized under election laws, warning that violations could lead to criminal and civil penalties, including significant fines enforced by the Privacy Protection Authority. The Authority's head, attorney Gilad Samama, confirmed enforcement of the ban, emphasizing that it applies to parties, app operators, and any other entities handling personal voter data, with breaches potentially resulting in fines and legal action.

Despite this, Likud, represented by attorney Ilan Bombach, argues the ban constitutes an unprecedented change to election rules mid-process, severely harming established party practices and their legitimate reliance interests. Likud contends that the decision disrupts a long-standing procedure and requests the Supreme Court to issue interim orders to suspend or overturn Sohlberg's ruling, at least deferring its application to future elections.

Sohlberg also clarified that while individual voter identities remain confidential, aggregated polling station turnout data will still be publicly released on election day to ensure transparency and election integrity. The dispute highlights tensions between privacy protections and political parties' campaign strategies during Israel's election cycle.