Initiative for Stolac requests from the CEC to extend the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots

(Patria) - Initiative for Stolac requests from the Central Election Commission of BiH to extend the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots. According to the Rulebook on Election Implementation that was in force in the last elections in 2018, the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots was 2 days after the election day.

"Considering the fact that the legal deadline for announcing confirmed election results is 30 days from the election day, the entire absurdity of such a provision is clear. It is especially absurd that such a provision remains in force during the Covid-19 pandemic when all international shipments are going much slower than before. Several thousand voters residing in America have registered to vote by mail. For the vast majority of them, the application has not yet been confirmed, i.e., the data processing and application verification process has not yet been completed.

With such a pace of application processing at the CEC for mail-in voting, in pandemic conditions and with such short deadlines, there is not even a theoretical chance that voters from overseas countries can receive the materials on time and send them in time to arrive at the CEC BiH by November 17, 2020, i.e., two days after the elections.

Taking the above into account, the Initiative for Stolac requests the CEC BiH to extend the deadline for receiving mail to 25 days from the election day," it was announced.