The findings of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Under Scrutiny” indicate that a significant number of election commissions, polling boards and operators are still not at the required level of readiness to conduct elections with the use of new technologies.
On this occasion, the Coalition “Under Scrutiny” warns that it is necessary to urgently improve the training of the election administration in order to successfully implement the biometric identification of voters and the scanner of ballots on election day.
Also, as a problem, they cited the fact that the initial trainings were predominantly theoretical and without practical work, while in some areas the election administration still did not have the opportunity to get directly acquainted with the equipment they will use or the trainings did not even begin even though, according to the calendar of election activities, the deadline for the completion of the education of the polling committees was yesterday, September 24.
Although it is clear that the education of the election administration was started very late due to numerous obstructions in the implementation of new technologies, it is also now a fact that we have a kind of institutional and systemic slowness in the education itself, which must be better planned and intensified.
“We must not allow institutional slowness to jeopardize the multi-million dollar project that should free election day from proven electoral theft and fraud and finally strengthen the integrity of elections in BiH and restore citizens’ trust in elections. Deficiencies in the preparation will first manifest themselves at the polling stations. An insufficiently trained election administration can lead to a slower voting process, queues, additional questions and voter uncertainty, incorrect application of procedures or unnecessary prolongation of downtime in case of technical problems. Even when the devices are technically functional, the poor preparation of the people who manage them can produce the same consequences, which citizens perceive as a problem with the technology itself,” said the Coalition.
As they state in the press release, the Coalition “Under Scrutiny” believes that the remaining ten days are enough to significantly reduce the existing risks, but only if the preparation is immediately shifted to the most intensive phase and if practical training, equipment testing and solving potential problems become an absolute priority.
