Israel's Supreme Court Bans Real-Time Voter Turnout Tracking by Parties

Israel's Supreme Court has issued a significant ruling prohibiting political parties from collecting and transmitting real-time data on voter turnout at specific polling stations, including information on individual citizens' attendance. The decision, aimed at protecting citizens' privacy, was reinforced by additional restrictions on October 22. Parties and their representatives face potential administrative and criminal penalties for violating data protection laws.

The Privacy Protection Authority has alerted political parties, observers, and election participants to adhere to citizens' right to privacy. The authority will conduct special monitoring for violations on election day, October 27. The court's September 17 decision declared the practice of tracking individual voter attendance and relaying this information to party headquarters illegal, citing a violation of privacy rights without sufficient legal basis. This ban extends to all data transmission methods, including party-specific applications.

Further restrictions prevent election committee members and party observers from independently counting voters at individual stations for real-time transmission to parties. This prohibition covers not only digital tracking but also manual methods like paper lists and hand tallies. Even anonymized data, such as the total number of voters at a station without personal details, is forbidden for transmission.

Party applications and databases must obtain explicit consent from citizens before using their personal information. The responsibility for compliance extends to parties, on-site representatives, app developers, service providers, activists, and supporters. The Privacy Protection Authority also emphasized the obligation to report serious information security incidents.

Gilad Samet, Head of the Privacy Protection Authority, stated that the authority will enforce legal measures, including administrative sanctions and criminal proceedings, for violations. The authority is establishing a special response system for election day to handle reported violations, such as instances where a party contacts a voter about their non-attendance, indicating potential court order breaches. Citizens can report suspected violations to the authority, which will collaborate with the Central Elections Committee for swift incident resolution.