For the first time machine voting is mandatory in Bulgaria in polling places with more than 300 voters.

In 9,402 polling stations in the country and 273 abroad voting will be entirely by machine. In the polling places where more than 425 voters cast their votes during the 4 April elections two machines have been provided – a total of 1,115 polling stations in Bulgaria and 148 abroad.

Mandatory machine voting was introduced by force of amendments to the election rules adopted by the previous, 45th National Assembly, which lasted less than one month. Under the Election Code, voting is only done using specialized machine voting devices. An exception is only made at polling stations with less than 300 voters, but also for mobile ballot boxes, at medical establishments or other specialized institutions, as well as on board vessels sailing under a Bulgarian flag. If unforeseen external circumstances occur and the machine voting is halted, voting shall continue using paper ballots. To provide for such a contingency more than 7 million paper ballots have been printed.