Ministry warns of serious problems with voting machines, CEC - we removed them

"Information assets" in the voting machines were discovered to be missing one week before the municipal election. These flaws were discovered during the machines' compliance checks, according to a BGNES reporter who cites a letter sent to Kamelia Neikova, the CEC chairperson, and copied to her and the chairs of the Bulgarian Institute of Metrology and the Bulgarian Institute of Standardisation.

The letter was sent by the Ministry of e-Governance, the reporter emphasises, a few days ago.

A number of flaws have been found in the meticulous investigation of the so-called Technical device for machine voting (TUMG), which will be used in the elections for local councillors and mayors on October 29, 2023:

Rechargeable batteries have been installed in voting machines;

the information needed for authentication is not present in flash drives;

both the printed ballot from a machine vote and acceptable samples of the ballot visible on the machine's screen are missing;

A real ballot image identical to the one that will be used on October 29, 2023, has not yielded any test results.

The CEC should supply the aforementioned assets as soon as practicable given the shorter timelines for certification of compliance.

According to the CEC, the Ministry of e-Government has received the necessary technical assistance. /BGNES