Judge Bars Ultra-Orthodox Party From Reporting Voter Turnout in Real-Time

The Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, issued an interim order Tuesday prohibiting the United Torah Judaism party and its representatives at polling stations from reporting the number of voters in real-time or at set intervals. The order was granted in response to a petition filed by the Movement for Quality of Government in Israel against the party.

The petition was prompted by a report from journalist Yohai Baram and documents obtained by the movement. According to the submitted materials, United Torah Judaism poll workers were given a "Voter Turnout Tracking Form" with instructions to mark each voter, record the time, and report the number of voters to the Degel HaTorah system. They were instructed to leave the polling station to report the data by phone, avoiding digital devices inside.

The Movement for Quality of Government argued that these instructions violate a High Court of Justice ruling that prohibits poll workers and party observers from transmitting real-time voter data to their parties. The movement emphasized that manual counting and phone reporting outside the polling station do not circumvent this prohibition and that such activity provides an unfair advantage over parties adhering to the rules.

Attorneys Jacqueline Bracha and Ido Ornshtein from the Movement for Quality of Government stated, "The integrity of elections requires equal rules for all parties. Violating the High Court's ruling and reporting voter numbers at polling stations is forbidden. The interim order issued following our petition requires United Torah Judaism and its representatives to cease these reports. We will continue to act throughout election day to ensure the rules are enforced in real-time and to protect the democratic process."

Judge Sohlberg ordered the party to submit its response by 2:15 PM, and the petitioner to immediately serve the party with the petition and the decision.