If the parliamentary and European elections are not 2 in 1 and are scheduled for two consecutive weeks, it will be quite difficult.
This opinion was expressed to BNR by Veselin Todorov, executive director of "Siela Norma". – the company that provides the machine voting.
"We have always pleaded for the elections to be held in 2 weeks, but this is not heard. We accept that society wants things to happen faster. We will manage, but it will be quite stressful,", he explained of loading the new ballots between the Monday after the first vote and Friday, when the machines have to be returned for the next vote. According to Todorov, the two dates are June 9 and 23.
He does not rule out the CEC assigning them additional software work, for example on an additional screen to facilitate communication with the voter.
The oldest flash drives are from 5 years ago – the first mass elections with machines. The rest are about 3 and a half years old. The warranty period begins to pass and the normal period after which this type of memory begins to be no longer very reliable. For the purposes of machine voting, they must be in very good condition, explained Todorov.
CEC is preparing the provision of new flash memories, there is an inquiry to the manufacturer, he specified. "We are talking about 24-25,000 flash drives if purchased for absolutely all machines."
The paper vote is much more unreliable than the machine vote, but the Bulgarian voter wants to have a paper vote, reports Veselin Todorov. In his words, "regardless of what politicians say or people who plead that life should develop, many Bulgarians prefer this traditional way.