Government and electoral officials will meet on Thursday to discuss ways to procure 12 000 voting machines, with options including an order to Ecuador or the Philippines. Talks have been scheduled between Stefan Yanev, the interim Defense Minister and Deputy PM on elections, and members of the Central Election Commission (CEC). These come less than two months ahead of the early election scheduled for March 26. On Wednesday, a supreme court ruled authorities should provide voting machines for all 12 500 polling stations. Currently, there are only 500 in stock. The announcement followed a move by CEC to warn machines would only be available for 500 polling stations, despite new legislation stipulating all stations should be equipped with them.
Veselin Torodov, CEO at the firm which delivered voting machines in the last four elections (until 2015 only used for experimental purposes and, until now, not mandatory for all polling stations), said his representatives were already “in talks” with several states.
Voting machines are often owned by governments and not companies, he said in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio, citing the Philippines and Ecuador as a possible sources of machines at the moment.
Full Article: Bulgaria Looking at Ecuador, Philippines for Solution to Machine Voting Crisis – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency.