Election Official Halts Real-Time Voter Turnout Reports by Ultra-Orthodox Party

The decision followed a petition filed by the Movement for Quality of Government in Israel, which argued that the party's practices could unfairly influence the election. The movement cited instructions given to party poll workers to track and report voter numbers, arguing this violated a High Court of Justice ruling that prohibits poll workers and party observers from transmitting real-time voter data to their parties.

According to documents obtained by the movement and a report by journalist Yohai Baram, United Torah Judaism poll workers were given a "Voter Turnout Tracking Form." They were instructed to mark each voter, record the time, and leave the polling station to report the numbers to the Degel HaTorah system by phone, avoiding digital devices inside. The movement emphasized that manual counting and phone reporting do not circumvent the High Court prohibition.

Judge Sohlberg ordered United Torah Judaism to submit its official response to the petition by 2:15 PM on Tuesday. Additionally, the Movement for Quality of Government was instructed to immediately provide the party with the full petition and the committee chairman's decision.