Solberg OKs partial Likud review of Arab sector ballots

Central Elections Committee chairman Supreme Court Justice Noam Solberg partially granted a Likud request Wednesday to review election materials from approximately 190 polling stations in the Arab sector, as the party weighs filing an election challenge.

Likud claimed in its updated petition that voter turnout reports were transmitted from numerous Arab-sector polling stations during election day, and that these reports were used to encourage voters to come out and cast ballots.

The party sought access to materials from those polling stations to examine whether evidence exists that could form the basis for challenging the election results.

Justice Solberg reviewed the request and ruled that Likud may examine only materials that could assist in proving the claims it raised. The request was thus granted only in part, with no blanket approval to receive all documents the party had sought.

In his decision, Solberg determined that some of the documents Likud requested are already available to the party or in the possession of its representatives, and therefore need not be transferred again.

One issue examined was Likud's request to receive photographs taken by election integrity monitors during voting day.

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On this matter, the Central Elections Committee chairman reiterated established case law, which holds that monitors' photographs may be transferred only to the police, the State Attorney's Office, and the legal counsel of the Central Elections Committee.

Accordingly, it was determined that the photographs would not be transferred to Likud.

Solberg did, however, approve transferring to Likud scans of IVR-type voting tracking forms, along with notes and decisions by polling station committees at the stations to which the request refers.

In addition, review will be permitted of the deletion lists, which show the names of those eligible to vote at each polling station, with the names of actual voters marked as deleted, alongside their voting times.

These are the materials through which Likud seeks to examine its claims regarding voting reports from those polling stations, and to determine whether they can form the basis for an election challenge.

However, even the review of approved materials will not be conducted through free transfer of all documents to the party.

In accordance with standard procedures, the examination will be carried out by Central Elections Committee staff, within a sterile and supervised inspection framework. Likud will be permitted to send observers on its behalf to accompany the process.

The decision allows Likud to proceed with examining election materials, but does not constitute a finding that violations or irregularities occurred at the polling stations in question.

Moreover, at this stage the matter involves a request to review documents for the purpose of examining the possibility of filing a challenge, not a decision accepting an election challenge or changing the voting results.