Bulgaria's Central Election Commission (CIK) has sent new guidance on machine voting to municipalities and district election commissions ahead of the runoff, CIK spokeswoman Assoc. Prof. Stoyanka Balova told national broadcaster BNT.

There were cases of interrupted voting in the first round. The voter got a partial receipt, but the vote was not saved on the flash drive.

Two causes are the most common. On election day, voters in several places took the card out of the machine too early or pulled out the control receipt before the beep. Balova said the process may not finish in that case, and the vote may not be saved.

"The guidance is not to pull out the receipt early, before you hear the beep," Balova said. The commission urges voters to follow the instructions for using the machine strictly.

Asked about the machines that had problems in the first round, the spokeswoman said: "The number is extremely small – 31 machines." Two were abroad and 29 in Bulgaria. Voting continued in 27 polling sections because each had two machines.

The screen of one machine broke in transit, and several would not start because of a burnt-out motherboard. Balova thinks transport caused the damage. Under the contract, the contractor must repair them in the week before the runoff and will not be paid for machines that went unused.

Some section election commissions were not prepared well enough in the first round to react to a machine fault. The CIK has therefore given them extra instructions, including what to do if the power fails.

Some machines had no privacy screens because the clips to fix them in place were never delivered. There will be no clips for the runoff either, so the commission has told staff how to arrange the space around the machines.

Balova said that where there is no screen, the secrecy of the vote must be ensured so that the voter is not in a "dark little room" and can be seen by members of the section commission. She calls these alternative methods.

The CIK is also ready for higher turnout in the runoff, the spokeswoman said. She explained that the organisation does not depend on the number of voters and requires the same steps.

After the first round, the election papers were processed quickly. District election commissions filed their reports as early as Monday, and all polling sections abroad had been accepted by 6am.