First publication: New Likud app allows tracking of voters at polling stations

A former senior official in the Likud campaign headquarters submitted an affidavit to the High Court of Justice and the Attorney General, claiming that the new 'Nitzachon 26' app developed by Likud enables tracking of voters' identities at polling stations, in violation of the law and a High Court ruling. The affidavit describes how the ban can be circumvented using smartphones at polling stations.

A former senior official in the Likud campaign headquarters submitted an affidavit to the High Court of Justice and the Attorney General on Sunday morning, claiming that a new app developed by Likud, named 'Nitzachon 26', enables tracking of voters' identities at polling stations, in violation of the law and a High Court ruling from September 17 that prohibits the transfer of information about voters' identities. The affidavit, submitted by attorney Yuval Yoaz, chairman of the Democracy Guard, describes how the High Court's decision can be circumvented by using smartphones left on the polling station table to transfer names and ID numbers of voters via bots or recording, which could constitute illegal wiretapping. Rechter, who served as a volunteer responsible for the computing field in the Likud campaign headquarters in the 2022 elections, claims that even then, a backup was considered in case the 'Elector' app would not work, and that advanced artificial intelligence capabilities increase the incentive to use these methods. The article notes that the Central Elections Committee permitted the use of phones for quantitative counting under four conditions, but according to Rechter, passive transfer of information would be difficult to detect.