Israel election panel allows parties to track who has voted in real time ahead of High Court review

The Central Elections Committee in Israel has approved a proposal that allows political parties to track who has voted in real time during polling stations ahead of the upcoming October 27 election. This decision restores a crucial aspect of party election turnout operations, which had been prohibited under a ban imposed by the High Court of Justice in August.

The information to be shared does not disclose how any individual voted, but rather indicates whether a specific person has cast their ballot, enabling parties to compare this data with their databases and focus their efforts on likely supporters who haven't yet voted. However, the decision comes with several restrictions: information cannot be transferred from special polling stations, parties cannot record individual voting, and the data can only be used to encourage voter turnout.

The information must also be destroyed after the election and cannot be shared with other parties or external entities. The decision was made by a 19-11 vote, with three abstentions, against the recommendation of committee chairman and Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, who argued that transferring identified voter information to political parties is prohibited.

The case is now expected to move to the High Court of Justice on Wednesday, where the court will review whether the committee's decision complies with privacy and election laws.

Brief written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.