site.btaVoting Machine Seals Remain Contractor-Applied after Government Rejects Commission’s Proposal

The Central Election Commission (CEC) proposed that the seals on the voting machines for the April 19 early parliamentary elections be provided and applied by state officials, but the executive branch did not adopt the measure, so the seals are still placed by the contractor, Ciela Norma, CEC Chair Kameliya Neykova told parliament on Wednesday.

Each seal has a unique number, and the CEC requires full records of where each is applied, including any spare seals used in case of malfunction.

Applications for voting from abroad must be submitted by March 24; so far, the campaign is performing better than in previous elections, with more than 13,000 applications from overseas Bulgarian voters, according to CEC Deputy Chair Tsvetozar Tomov. The authenticity of each application is verified upon submission, and the information is published on the CEC website.

Neykova also highlighted a new incentive: section election commission members who fill out their tally sheets without errors will receive a reward. “We hope this stimulus will work, as it did in the 2024 elections, and we plan far more thorough training for completing tally sheets,” she said.

Earlier, the There Is Such a People party called for full state oversight of machine voting, including 100% machine checks before leaving storage, placement of seals by state officials, and delivery of the seals by the Cabinet rather than the contractor.