The committee is chaired by a Supreme Court justice who is chosen by a group of Supreme Court justices.

The members of the committee are representatives of the parliamentary groups in the Knesset: For each parliamentary group having four or more members, there is one member in the Central Elections Committee per four members of Knesset. Any parliamentary group having up to four members has one representative in the Committee.

The Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee has four deputies from the four largest parliamentary groups in the Knesset. The Chairperson may increase the number of deputies to eight and may determine from which parliamentary groups these deputies will be.

The Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee for the 17th Knesset is Justice Dorit Beinisch.

For the upcoming elections for the 17th Knesset, the chairperson has five deputies from the following parliamentary groups: Likud, Kadima, Labor-Meimad-Am Ehad, Shinui, and Shas.

At the head of the Committee staff stands the Director General, and at her side is a staff that functions throughout the tenure of the Committee. The regular staff consists of the director general, executive assistant, deputy director general, logistics manager, accountant, and stock keeper.

About three months before elections, 18 regional committees are set up. At the head of each committee stands a judge, and the proportional membership of each committee (including its political make-up) is identical to that of the Central Elections Committee.

At the same time, the number of staff on the Committee is increased both at the headquarters and in the regional committees, and totals about 300 people who are employed by the Committee for about 3 months. On the day of the elections, the number of employees working under the Committee reaches over 30,000.

Functions of the Central Elections Committee:

• Receiving of the lists of candidates and approving them.
• Preparing all of the materials for the elections and transferring them to the polling stations.
• Organizing the irregular voting: At the diplomatic representations abroad, in the hospitals, prisons, detention centers, and helping the IDF organize the voting for soldiers.
• Recruiting secretaries for the polling-station committees, and manning the committees with representatives of three outgoing Knesset parliamentary groups.
• Training all of the workers at the polling stations.
• Instructing the public and publicizing information via the media - both written and electronic.
• Insuring transportation to the polling station for any voter who wants and who is located at least 20km from the polling station where he/she is registered.
• Insuring that proper procedure is followed on elections day at each of the 8,500 polling stations.
• Collecting the elections results from each polling station.
• Tallying the elections results and dividing the 120 Knesset mandates.
• Producing certificates for each new Knesset Member confirming his/her election.