A repair of voting machines for 1.1 million euros is offered by "Siela Norma" to the CEC. This was announced in the program "Speak Now" on BNT by Veselin Todorov, the company's executive director.
The deputies adopted at first reading changes to the Electoral Code, which are taking place before the upcoming presidential vote. The main proposal of the ruling party is the restoration of fully machine voting in sections with over 300 voters, with paper voting remaining only for small settlements.
When asked whether "Siela Norma" is ready to react to the decisions of the parliament, Todorov replied: "We are ready, because we will do more or less the same thing as we did when there was a hybrid – both paper and machine. The point is that we will service more or less the same number of machines in more or less the same number of sections. So from our point of view, the change is not significant. Whether 200 or 400 voters will vote on the machine, when they will no longer have the option of paper, it does not make much difference to us."
Todorov emphasized that they did not make systematic repairs to the voting machines.
"Not because we did not want to, but because we were not assigned to do so. We cannot afford to do something without being assigned to do so. These machines had a 3-year warranty period.
In the beginning, we also made repairs without asking much. But it was decided that we should ask. And since we started asking, they said that no repairs would be made for the time being. The warranty period has expired. After which, of course, it is normal to ask for payment for these repairs. For the first 3 years, we considered that we owed it absolutely free of charge. And that is why we did it. According to our estimate, there are somewhere around 2200-2300 machines that are not in a condition to be used", he explained.
"There are printer failures, caused mostly by paper that did not meet the specification. Everyone knows – I do not believe anyone claims that these paper rolls did the job. They caused the most damage to the printers. And in fact, these 2200-2300 machines have certainly 2200-2300 damaged printers. Some machines have other problems as well. Our proposal is to replace all the batteries of the machines, because they are 6 years old or even more. Such batteries with this type of operation – 6 months completely disconnected from the network and then quite extreme exploitation - cause damage to these batteries. And the moment the battery is damaged, the machine gives a signal that it is not working and stops working. They are not expensive batteries, but it is good to replace them all. Bulgaria has 12,837 voting machines. It is good to replace them on all the machines. And about the batteries - I am not talking about the large batteries that are outside, but about the battery that each computer has on its bottom. And in addition, we have proposed that all flash drives be replaced. And again for the reason that 6-7 year old flash drives are not good to use", said the head of "Siela Norma".
The cost of such a repair will be 1.1 million euros.
"So all this, if all the flash drives are replaced, i.e. 26,000, if all 13,000 batteries are replaced and 2,200 printers are replaced and so many burnt screens and so on - it's about 1 million and 100 thousand euros. This is our offer to the CEC, which we submitted probably in April somewhere. So it's a good idea to think about it. It's not a matter of legislative change," Todorov specified.