site.btaAll Voting Machines Will Be Fully Operational by April 19, Says Election Chief

All 9,354 voting machines to be used in the country and about 150 to be used abroad in the April 19 Bulgarian snap elections will be in working order, said Central Election Commission (CEC) Chair Kameliya Neykova on Bulgarian National Television on Sunday evening. No machines for which there is reason to believe they are technically faulty will be used. All machines undergo servicing and diagnostics before being installed. Under no circumstances should voters and participants in the elections feel concerned, she added.

Neykova noted that the three-year warranty period for all 12,837 available machines has expired, as they were purchased in 2021. If faults had occurred during the warranty period, repairs would have been at the supplier’s expense. Once this period has expired, repairs are paid for by the state. As with any machine in operation, parts need to be replaced, but these are not components that could give anyone reason to think the machines might be tampered with. They require replacement of spare parts such as cables, extension cords, batteries, and the cases in which the machines are transported. The CEC has already taken steps to secure these spare parts.

Regarding the replacement of members of section election commissions, Neykova said it would be possible only when a ground specified in law is present. When a resignation is claimed, this must be accompanied by a written statement from the appointed commission member. The aim is for the election day to see commission members who have undergone training and are familiar with the instructions and decisions, the CEC chair added.

On video monitoring during the elections, Neykova said that the Ministry of Electronic Governance is expected to select a contractor to provide the video monitoring. The contractor and the ministry together will ensure technical reliability, while the instructions to the section election commissions will be very clear and simplified.

Asked whether measures are being taken regarding the expected voting in Turkiye, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Mateva said that by Sunday at 15:00 around 20,800 applications for voting abroad had been submitted. This is not a small number, she said. In the October 2024 elections, all submitted applications were just over 30,000. In the United Kingdom, applications currently exceed 4,000, which is twice as many as those submitted in October 2024. More applications have also been submitted in the United States. Turkiye traditionally has the largest number of submitted applications.

In embassies where possible, more than one polling station will be opened. There is an intention for the embassy in London to have seven stations, in addition to the existing 20, she added. We will do everything possible to ensure voters can exercise their right to vote, she said.

Polling stations in the Middle East are unlikely to be opened. Few applications have been submitted in those countries. When an electronic application is submitted, the voter is informed that due to impracticality and lack of security it is likely that a polling station will not be opened. Once the CEC makes its final decision, these voters will be notified, probably around 28 March.

To avoid confusion among section commissions and to prevent potential ballot loss, election documents will be placed in a white sack and everything else in a black one.