Elections 2026

Court Bans Real-Time Voter Data Sharing

Supreme Court overturns Central Elections Committee decision, blocking party representatives at polling stations from reporting who has voted in real time, a blow to coalition parties' get-out-the-vote operations

Gila Isaacson

SEP 17, 2026 17:04

2 min read

Channel 12 political analyst Amit Segal called Thursday's Supreme Court ruling "bad news for the coalition parties" after the court accepted petitions and overturned a Central Elections Committee decision allowing real-time voter data reporting on election day.

The ruling bars party representatives stationed at polling places from updating their parties throughout election day about which voters have already cast ballots. The decision caps a lengthy legal battle centered on Likud's demand to receive real-time data in order to drive turnout through digital applications and tools such as "Elector."

The majority opinion was authored by Justice Yael Willner, joined by Justices Alex Stein and Khaled Kabub. The ruling explained that these systems enable parties to identify which potential voters have not yet exercised their right to vote — and to take targeted action to mobilize them to the polls.

Justice Willner determined the practice is illegal "both due to the absence of legal authority to conduct it, which is required under the principle of administrative legality; due to the violation of the right to privacy involved in transferring such information; and specifically, due to violation of the prohibition set forth in Section 2(9) of the Privacy Protection Law."

The justices further clarified that the Central Elections Committee lacks the authority to permit party representatives at polling stations to engage in this practice in the absence of clear and explicit statutory authorization.