Voters can re-vote with a machine if the message “Your vote has been canceled“ appears on the screen or another error is reported in which the vote was not recorded by the device. This is stated in new methodological instructions of the Central Election Commission.
The instructions were reached after machines in several areas did not record votes cast, although they printed receipts. The cases raised the question of whether the voter had exercised his right to vote when the machine had completed the procedure but had not registered the choice.
What do the instructions provide
“In case of a message “Your vote has been canceled“ or other error message, the vote has not been counted on the machine and the voter can vote again“, the text of the instructions reads.
Thus, re-voting is not tied to the presence of a printed receipt, but to whether the machine has counted the vote. In the event of a message of a canceled vote or another error, the voter must be able to repeat the procedure with the device.
The instructions are not yet public
The new rules have been provided to BNT, but have not been uploaded to the CEC website for publication. The general decisions and methodological instructions for the work of the sectional commissions in machine voting have been published on the commission's website, but the specific text for re-voting in the event of a message “Your vote has been canceled“ is not available in the public version.
This means that when such an error occurs, what is decisive is what the machine shows and whether the vote has been counted. If the device reports that the vote has been canceled or another error has occurred, the voter can request to vote again by machine.
Sources: bntnews.bg