Two hundred damaged ballots for the presidential and vice-presidential elections on October 25 have been discovered in the "Iztochen" district in Plovdiv. REC 16 has excluded the ballots from the election process and ordered them to be separated, sealed and stored under the protection of the Ministry of Interior.
The problem was discovered on October 20 when the election papers were accepted by the regional administration. Employees noticed a violation of the integrity of one of the boxes. During the inspection, carried out in the presence of two REC members, it was found that two ballot boxes with 100 ballots each were damaged. The remaining papers in the box are not affected.
A protocol has been drawn up for the case, and the two cobs have been separated. In its decision, REC 16 states: “It finds that... two cobs... a total of 200 ballots - are damaged and unfit for voting.“ The ballots will not be handed over to the section election commissions, as they are sequentially torn off the cob during voting.
The damaged papers will be placed in a separate package with a note that they should not be handed over to the SEC. The package will be sealed with paper tapes, signed by certain officials, and will be stored in the room for election materials under the protection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. REC 16 must notify the Central Election Commission and the regional governor of Plovdiv of the finding.
There are enough reserve ballots
The case will not lead to a shortage of ballots in Plovdiv-city. 340,400 paper ballots have been delivered to the electoral district, while the number needed for distribution to the sections is 336,100. This leaves a reserve of 4,300 ballots, from which two new whole cobs will be provided for the “East“ district.
A separate protocol with their serial numbers must be drawn up for the ballots from the reserve. REC 16 has instructed the Plovdiv municipality to fill the shortage for the sections in the region with whole cobs and to send a copy of the protocol to the commission.
1004 polling stations are planned for the elections in the Plovdiv region, of which 474 are in the city and 530 are in the other municipalities. 1039 voting machines have also been provided. According to the data in the decision, the found invalid ballots will not require additional printing or changes in the organization of the vote.
Sources: trafficnews.bg