Elections committee chief bars UTJ from reporting voter numbers in real time

Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg issued an interim order on Tuesday prohibiting United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and its representatives at polling stations from reporting voter numbers in real time.

The order followed a petition filed by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel over concerns that the party was violating a High Court of Justice ruling barring the transfer of real-time voter turnout data from polling stations to political parties.

The petition cited forms obtained by the movement and a report by journalist Yoeli Brim, alleging that UTJ polling station committee members had been instructed to mark each voter who cast a ballot, record the time, and report the number of voters to the Degel HaTorah faction by telephone from outside the polling station.

Sohlberg ordered UTJ to respond to the petition by 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday.