The Central Election Commission has begun training the regional election commissions before the presidential vote. For the third day now, CEC teams have been holding information meetings on site, with all 31 RECs in the country to be covered by October 14. This was announced by the commission's spokesperson Stoyanka Balova at the regular CEC briefing, quoted by Nova TV.
The first meetings were held with the commissions in Sofia-city, Sofia-region, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv-city and Plovdiv-region. Today, CEC representatives are in Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Stara Zagora, Sliven and Yambol.
The commission expects direct contact with REC members to improve communication, coordination and practical preparation for election day. During the trainings, the main organizational and practical issues are discussed, and representatives of the regional commissions can present specific cases from their work.
Balova emphasized that feedback from people in the field is particularly important, as the CEC is about to prepare and adopt the methodological instructions for the elections. The idea is that the questions and recommendations of the regional commissions will be taken into account when preparing them.
Preparations for machine voting are also continuing. 10 devices have already been randomly selected and must undergo a detailed technical check of the hardware and software. The aim is to determine whether they meet the requirements for certification of compliance before election day.
The CEC emphasizes that the public designation of the devices is part of the efforts for maximum transparency of the machine certification process. “Transparency throughout the process is a key prerequisite for citizens' trust in the elections and we will work in this direction throughout the election process“, said Balova-Tsvetkova.
After the completion of the checks, the competent institutions are expected to certify the compliance of the devices that will be used in the presidential and vice-presidential elections.
The CEC has developed a comprehensive plan for the implementation of the machine vote and the security of the individual stages of the process.
Among the next key steps is the so-called trusted code construction. During the procedure, a unique hashcode is generated from the source code of the system and application software that will be installed on the machines.
It is public and will be printed on the machine voting receipts. The goal is to increase security and to be able to verify that the certified software is installed on the devices.
The procedure is carried out in a protected environment by representatives of the CEC with source code provided by the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation. As a result, three complete sets of executable software are created, which are stored by the CEC.
The Commission assigns “Information Services“ and the issuance of digital certificates for the use of the machines on smart cards provided by the CEC.
The machine voting devices are stored in a 24-hour guarded warehouse, guarded by the General Directorate of the “Gendarmerie, Special Operations and Combating Terrorism“.
Access to it is permitted only after an explicit written order from the CEC. Only persons who have been previously checked by the Ministry of Interior and the State Agency for National Security may enter the warehouse.
In the meantime, the repair of the devices that require technical intervention continues. According to Balova, the work is progressing on schedule, with about 2,000 of the machines that required more serious repairs already being fully restored.
The CEC has already determined the locations abroad where polling stations will be opened, as well as their number in each settlement.
Nearly 40,000 Bulgarian citizens abroad have submitted applications that they want to vote in the upcoming presidential elections.
On October 8 at 9:30 a.m., consultations will be held in the National Assembly with the parties represented in parliament on the distribution of seats and representatives in the sectional election commissions outside the country. The deadline for the CEC to appoint these commissions is October 12.
The devices intended for the sections abroad will be transported as diplomatic cargo. The machines will be taken from the warehouse and handed over to representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who will organize their delivery to the relevant diplomatic and consular missions. From there, the devices will be distributed to the polling stations.
Each machine will travel in a sealed transport case. The handover will be carried out with a handover protocol, which will record the number of the respective section, the number of the machine and the number of the seal.
Until October 10, voters with permanent disabilities can submit applications for voting with a mobile ballot box. In order for such a section to be formed, applications from at least 10 voters are required. One mobile section can serve one or more settlements within the respective municipality.
If a mobile section has already been formed after October 10, applications will also be submitted by people whose disability occurred after that date. The deadline for them is October 19, and they must present a document from the TELK or NELK, certifying the disability and the inability to vote in the polling station.
Applications are submitted to the mayor of the municipality, region or city hall. This can be done in person, through an authorized person, by mail, by fax or electronically via the website of the relevant administration. When submitting online, a signature is not required.
An application to vote at your current address can also be submitted by phone
The mobile application “Elections 360°“ is now available for Android and iOS devices. It collects information and electronic services related to the electoral process in one place.
Voters can find their section via an interactive map, see the list of candidates for president and vice president and use a machine voting simulator.
An electronic application to vote at your current address can also be submitted through the application, without visiting the municipal administration. The deadline for this is also October 10.
A separate section in the application is intended for members of the section election commissions. Electronic versions of the protocols for machine and paper voting are to be published there, through which the members of the CEC will be able to practice filling them out and checking them in advance.
How will voting be done by machine
The CEC spokesperson also demonstrated the method of machine voting. The voter makes his choice on the touch screen, then confirms it.
The device no longer prints the ballot with all candidates, but a control receipt on which the choice made is noted. After checking, the voter places the receipt in the special box for machine voting.
After the voting is completed, the machine generates a report with the results of the votes cast through the device.
We recall that the procedure for certifying voting machines has already begun, with all 12,800 devices having to undergo diagnostics, preventive maintenance and, if necessary, repair. Demonstrations of machine voting at locations are also beginning this week.
27 candidate pairs are participating in the race. By the end of September, about 11,600 polling stations had been formed in the country, with 9,311 of them having over 300 voters and machine voting planned. However, the number of polling stations is not final, as mobile polling stations and those in medical and social institutions are being added.
Meanwhile, the CEC has launched the mobile application “Elections 360°“, through which voters can check their polling station, see the candidates and use a machine voting simulator.
The organization of the vote abroad has also been determined. The largest number of polling stations is planned in the UK - 82, followed by Turkey with 78, Germany with 70, Spain with 67 and the USA with 44. Some of the sections are still awaiting permission from the authorities of the respective countries.