Gajdos: Human Error Could Be Behind Issues with Ballot Papers

Bratislava, 24 October (TASR) - The problems with ballot papers in several electoral wards may have been caused by human error, Martin Gajdos, head of the Interior Ministry's elections, referendums and political parties section, told a press conference on Saturday, noting that state authorities print and distribute thousands of different types of ballot papers ahead of the combined elections. According to him, the problematic ballot papers in the villages of Breziny near Zvolen (Banska Bystrica region) and Hran near Trebisov (Kosice region) were correctly laid out in the Interior Ministry's register of candidates. "The master copy of the ballot paper for the village was fine, so there must have been some technical failure during the printing process, but I can't analyse what happened right now," said Gajdos. He added that the distribution of ballot papers is handled by a supplier selected via a tender organised by the ministry. "It's not a new supplier; it also supplied ballot papers for previous elections, basically all of them," said Gajdos. As a rule, electoral ward commissions are expected to keep track of what's going on at the polling stations and should monitor and check the materials that they hand out to voters, added Gajdos. In Breziny, the polling station opened at 7:30 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. due to an error found in one type of ballot papers, which stated the wrong number of candidates that the voters could mark. In Hran, voting was suspended for 50 minutes due to a print error on ballot papers. Both cases prompted the State Electoral Commission to extend the election moratorium. In addition, several electoral wards in Bratislava have reported receiving ballot papers that should have been sent to other wards. Some 40 faulty ballot papers were discovered in Bratislava's borough of Karlova Ves, where ballot papers for Banska Bystrica regional councillors were found instead of those for Bratislava region. Problems were also reported at two electoral wards in Bratislava's borough of Petrzalka, where lists of candidates running for Bratislava regional councillors from Bratislava's borough of Ruzinov appeared among the ballot papers. jrg/df