The Likud party has submitted an appeal to Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, chairman of the Central Elections Committee, seeking to overturn his recent decision to prohibit the use of voter-tracking applications on Election Day or, alternatively, to delay enforcement of the ban until after the upcoming October 27 election.

The contested apps, including Elector, enable local election officials and political party observers to report the names of voters as they arrive at polling stations to party headquarters in real time. This data-sharing allows parties to take targeted steps to increase voter turnout. Likud, along with Shas and United Torah Judaism, which have relied extensively on these technologies during previous campaigns, strongly opposed the ban.

In their petition, submitted by attorney Ilan Bombach, Likud argued that the move was unprecedented and invalid because it changed the rules mid-election cycle. The party noted that although a request to ban such apps had been raised in February, the Central Elections Committee only made its ruling this week, just as the election campaign was beginning. "The parties had made their preparations according to the rules that existed at the time," a Likud source said. Nimrod Eliran, responsible for coordinating Elector during Likud’s 2022 campaign and prior elections, asserted that use of the app contributed to the party winning an additional three to five Knesset seats.

The ban originated in a request filed earlier this year by attorney Shachar Ben-Meir, who contended that the law did not permit use of voter-tracking apps and that they violated voter privacy and the principle of a secret ballot. Supporting this position, Ben-Meir submitted a legal opinion drafted by Professor Michael Birnhack and attorney Noa Diamond from Tel Aviv University’s law faculty privacy clinic. The opinion stated that information about an individual’s vote is private and should not be recorded or shared.

Justice Sohlberg accepted the privacy concerns and issued the ban on Tuesday. He ordered election officials and party observers not to share any information regarding voter identities or voting circumstances — including the timing and type of ballot cast — with party representatives, citing violations of the Privacy Protection Law. Sohlberg emphasized that without explicit consent from voters, dissemination of such information is prohibited.

Additionally, Sohlberg instructed the Yashar party, led by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, to remove a campaign video from social media featuring artificially generated images of soldiers. Likud had argued that the video improperly utilized public property. The video depicted Eisenkot walking with digitally rendered soldiers in various military contexts, including combat zones and official ceremonies. Although the video was produced before new rules forbidding use of the Israel Defense Forces in election advertising took effect, the committee ruled that the use of military uniforms and the portrayal of soldiers—considered public assets—violated regulations against using public property for campaign purposes. The committee noted this connection between Yashar’s message and the IDF constituted a prohibited use under election laws.