Starting in 2014, the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Bulgaria began progressively modernizing its elections. After successful results in four consecutive events, authorities decided to rollout nationwide e-voting.

In 2021, more than 9,500 Smartmatic voting machines were deployed in more than 9,000 polling centers during each national voting round. All post-election audits performed on them proved the digital results to be 100% accurate.

In the second round of presidential elections held on November 21, 2021, Bulgaria reached another milestone by installing 400 machines at Bulgarian embassies in 21 countries. This way, for the first time in the country’s history, voters residing abroad were allowed to exercise their right using electronic voting.

Through the DZZD Consortium for Electronic Voting, Smartmatic has worked with Bulgarian company Ciela to bring electoral modernization to the Balkan nation. The joint work by the two companies has helped the Electoral Commission make the country a reference point for the rest of Europe.

Technology

Hardware – Premium Voting Machine

Our Premium Voting Machine, like every other Smartmatic voting machine, uses multi-layered security, including tamper-proof data collection, end-to-end encryption and fully auditable logs. Its end-to-end encryption technology prevents intrusion and hacking. The machines also generate auditable paper trails to guarantee the accuracy of the digital ballot. They feature 17-inch touchscreens, which makes them accessible to many people with disabilities. They also have smartcard readers and simple-cut printers.

Software – Elections Management Platform (EMP)

EMP is our solution to manage the entire election process. It is comprised of several modules that allow electoral commissions to coordinate election administrative tasks. In Bulgaria, EMP helped configure the voting machines; count, tally and consolidate results; and prepare reports on the progress of the election.

Services

At Smartmatic we understand that better technology is not enough to guarantee a well-run election. Good processes and services are also essential. Since 2014, we provided the following services in Bulgaria:

 

• Project management for the entire election processes
• Recruitment and training of operators
• Set up and management of warehouses and helpdesks
• Set up and priming of voting equipment and applications
• Set up of a vote-counting center