site.btaUPDATED Ruling Party Proposes Election Code Amendments to Reinstate Machines-Only Voting, Eliminate Overseas Constituency

Progressive Bulgaria (PB) will propose amendments to the Election Code to reinstating machines-only voting as it was in 2021, eliminate the Multimember Constituency Abroad, and remove the limit of 20 voting sections in countries that are not EU Member States. The intended revisions were announced by PB Floor Leader Petar Vitanov at a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday.

PB plans to have paper ballots used only in voting sections with fewer than 300 voters, and machine voting in the rest. 

Vitanov added: "The Multimember Constituency Abroad is being eliminated as originally planned because, first, it is impractical; second, it is very difficult to implement; and third, it unnecessarily hinders the electoral process. The limit of 20 voting sections in non-EU countries is also being eliminated, because it was dictated by narrow party interests and was, to put it mildly, discriminatory."

PB also has proposals related to the certification of machines and computing software. The party proposes establishing shared jurisdiction between the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Interior Ministry to ensure dual oversight. "This will double our vigilance and ensure that there is no tampering with the machines' software," Vitanov said.

The PB Floor Leader said that a month earlier, an agreement was reached that each parliamentary party will be able to present its views on election legislation. He noted that some of the parties have submitted their proposals and that there is considerable overlap. PB and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria are in agreement regarding machine voting, while PB and the MRF agree on the removal of the restriction on voting sections outside EU Member States.

A press release distributed by PB on Tuesday reads: "With the introduction of machine voting as an exclusive process, the electoral process will become faster, there will be no invalid ballots, the tally sheets will be simpler and easier for section election commissions to fill out, errors resulting from double-counting and cross-checking results between paper ballots and machine-counted ballots will be avoided, and after election day ends, the results will be processed much more quickly by all commissions."

Certification of the conformity of the supplied type of technical device for machine voting will be carried out not by the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation, but by the Interior Ministry, in cooperation with the Bulgarian Institute for Standardization and the Bulgarian Institute of Metrology. It is also proposed that the Interior Ministry conduct inspections of the software modules related to vote counting.

It is also proposed that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as personal blogs, be included in the definition of media services to prevent violations of the Electoral Code provisions regarding the unlawful disclosure of opinion poll results before 8:00 p.m. on election day. Higher fines and financial penalties will also be proposed, as the current penalties do not serve as a deterrent to violators, PB stated.