Bosnia's Election Commission Delays Test Vote
Bosnia and Herzegovina's Central Election Commission says some polling stations failed to open at the planned 9 a.m. start because test ballots had not arrived on time, with Doboj hit hardest.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Central Election Commission (CIK) announced today, September 11, that test voting ahead of the general election, scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in every municipality and city in the country, did not open everywhere on time. Voting failed to start at the planned hour at a number of polling stations, and the CIK cited late delivery of the test ballots as the cause. The Tanjug news agency published the CIK’s statement on the delay at 10:47 a.m.
The Central Election Commission adopted the decision to hold the test election at a session on September 8, alongside a decision on comprehensive testing of the cybersecurity and digital forensic readiness of the election’s information technology system. A day before the vote, on September 10, the commission told the public that testing would take place in every municipality and city, in cooperation with local municipal and city election commissions, each of which designated one hypothetical polling station for the occasion. In some places, the test vote was organized at polling stations that are otherwise used in the regular electoral process.
The exercise is meant to check the functionality, integrity, security, reliability and practical fitness of new election technologies under a simulated voting process, including biometric voter checks and ballot scanning. According to the CIK’s statement, the test election is being carried out as a preparatory activity under Article 20.16e, paragraph 2 of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, precisely for this kind of comprehensive check before the technology is used in an actual election. Every test voter is required to sign a statement consenting to the processing of personal data for testing purposes before casting a ballot. The results are meant to serve as a basis for fixing shortcomings before the same technologies are applied in the general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina, scheduled for October 4. Ahead of the vote itself, the Central Election Commission called on citizens to take part in the testing, and also asked municipal and city election commissions to encourage voters, in whatever way suits them, to turn out.
The biggest problems were recorded in Doboj, where residents arrived in the morning to try out the new technology, but voting could not begin. Ballot scanners had reached the city the day before, on Thursday evening around 8 p.m., while the ballots themselves, according to the Srna news agency, remained unavailable. That left the test vote in Doboj stalled right from the start, even though it had been billed as an important readiness check ahead of the new technology’s rollout. The CIK urged voters across Bosnia and Herzegovina not to plan their arrival at the test vote for exactly 9 a.m. while the remaining materials were still being delivered.
In Banja Luka, the test polling station was set up in the Bulevar local community, at 15 Simeuna Djaka Street, under the designation OIJ 034B. The Banja Luka City Election Commission said in a statement that the test checks the “functionality, integrity, security, reliability and applicability of specific election technologies under conditions of a simulated election process,” and called on voters from across the city to take part between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The CIK has not yet released the exact number of polling stations where voting was delayed, nor a new opening time for Doboj and the other affected locations. The general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at which part of the same technology will be used in full for the first time, will be held on October 4.
