developing· Politics· Updated 19:55

Israeli Supreme Court Bans Parties From Real-Time Ballot Box Data Transfer

On Thursday, October 22, 2026, Israel's Supreme Court banned political parties from electronically counting and instantly transmitting real-time voter turnout data from polling stations to their campaign headquarters. The ruling, decided by a two-to-one majority of Justices Khalid Kabub and Ruth Ronen against a dissent by Justice David Mintz, accepted a petition filed by the Guardians of Israeli Democracy association.

4 newsrooms · 2 languages · since 12:58

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Israeli Supreme Court Bans Parties From Real-Time Ballot Box Data Transfer — Illustration by baba

What happened

01The Supreme Court banned political parties from electronically counting and transmitting real-time voter turnout data from polling stations on Thursday, October 22, 2026.
02The ruling accepted a petition by the Guardians of Israeli Democracy against directives issued by the Central Elections Committee.
03Justices Khalid Kabub and Ruth Ronen formed the majority in the decision, while Justice David Mintz dissented.
04The decision prevents election committee members and party observers from using digital means to send turnout updates to campaign headquarters.
05United Torah Judaism plans to bypass the ban by registering voters outside the sterile zone of polling stations on election day.
06The Agudat Yisrael faction will set up dedicated tents near polling stations for voters to report after casting their ballots.
07Senior Shas official Rabbi Moshe Maya strongly criticized the Likud party as Shas works to prevent voter drift to other right-wing parties.

The decision prohibits election committee members and party observers from using digital means to send ongoing turnout updates, even without personal voter data. The court cited concerns over the lack of explicit legal authorization for such data transfers and the potential misuse of information gathered by representatives acting in public roles. The ruling limits the ability of parties to monitor voting in real-time, forcing them to rely on official, aggregated data released by the Central Elections Committee.

In response to the ban, United Torah Judaism is planning alternative methods to track voter turnout on election day. The party intends to register voters outside the sterile zone of each polling station, while its Agudat Yisrael faction plans to set up dedicated tents near polling stations where voters can report after casting their ballots. Meanwhile, Shas is also working to prevent voter drift, with senior official Rabbi Moshe Maya strongly criticizing the Likud party.

Summarized by baba from the reports of 3 newsrooms. Updated 20:08

Latest report: Al-Shams. Read Al-Shams’s original