Ultra-Orthodox Parties Deploy Tracking Systems for Knesset Elections
Ultra-Orthodox factions launched monitoring networks for the 26th Knesset elections on Tuesday to track real-time turnout, bypassing High Court and Election Committee bans.
Elections for the 26th Knesset officially kicked off this morning (Tuesday), with ultra-Orthodox factions rolling out sophisticated monitoring networks to track voter turnout in real-time, bypassing restrictions set by the Central Election Committee and the High Court of Justice.
Despite a High Court ruling prohibiting polling committee members from transmitting real-time voting data due to privacy concerns, United Torah Judaism's Lithuanian faction, Degel HaTorah, instructed its precinct representatives to report turnout throughout the day. To circumvent the ban, the party recruited hundreds of activists nationwide, assigning them to local headquarters and polling stations to log participating voters manually on forms.
These physical logs are subsequently transmitted to local headquarters and entered into a dedicated electronic system, providing real-time analytics without violating official regulations. Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Tzachi Brim detailed the operational framework, stating, "We established a dedicated call center at *4530. The voting process is complete only when the voter exits and reports. Data is cross-referenced in a computerized system to determine where each community stands and who still needs to be mobilized to the polls."
Meanwhile, Agudat Israel, the Hasidic faction of United Torah Judaism, encouraged voters to contact a dedicated call hotline upon leaving the ballot boxes, though analysts note this method carries a margin of error. Shas has established a dedicated telephoning headquarters to monitor turnout rates, leveraging local rabbis to mobilize communities in lagging districts.
