The chairman of the Central Election Committee (CEC), retired justice Chanan Meltzer, has adopted the position of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who expressed opposition to permitting the deployment of surveillance cameras in polling stations on Election Day for 22nd Knesset on Tuesday, September 17, 2019.

The matter actually began during the April 2019 election for 21st Knesset, when it was discovered that Likud poll watchers in Arab polling stations were secretly recording events to make certain any wrongdoing would be documented. The cameras were discovered and ordered removed.

The question has arisen if cameras may be used again in the upcoming race, and Attorney General Mandelblit has been asked for his expert legal opinion. He stated the deployment of cameras may actually be a criminal act as it invades one’s right to privacy. Likud wanted to use cameras in Arab sector polling stations and MK Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu party, called for the placement of cameras in chareidi polling stations due to documented wrongdoing in those areas as well.

Meltzer had to rule on the matter, and he decided to go with Mandelblit’s position and outlaw the use of cameras in the upcoming Knesset election.

Meltzer adds that the placement of cameras behind the voting pergola, when citizens place a ballot slip in an envelope, will not be permitted, nor will the placement of cameras elsewhere in voting stations.

Inspectors will be checking polling stations on Election Day to make certain the regulation prohibiting cameras is enforced in all areas.

A half hour before polling stations close, inspectors will arrive in randomly selected polling stations, and only after all voting has ended, they may document the use of secure bodycams to record the procedures that follow, the opening and tabulation of ballots. This may also be done by a polling stations’ secretary.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)