"The postal company delivers the envelopes without taking them into the hands of the voters", DP complains to the CEC about the process of voting from abroad

The Democratic Party has once again complained to the State Election Commission regarding the problems, according to it, in the process of preparing and sending votes to voters in the diaspora.

In the letter filed yesterday (April 19, 2025) with the State Election Commission, the Democratic Party requests the availability of the findings and daily minutes for each of the 12 districts, regarding these three issues or other issues that the CEC has identified:

i. Production of two identical "B" envelopes for the same voter;

ii. Problems with the voter's address (cases where the postal code does not match the self-declared one); and

iii. Placing the same address label on two different envelopes (i.e. a case that leads to the risk that a citizen will receive two or more votes and produce multiple voting, theoretically an electoral crime for the one who will initiate it or may have initiated it).

The Democratic Party also requests from the State Election Commission all records of the storage location for:

i. Duplicate envelopes, their quantity, the way they were administered, the persons who were part of the process, how they were ascertained, the official correspondence of the SEC with the firm contracted for this purpose on the reasons leading to this problem and the reasons that you as the CEC have for this problem and what is the guarantee that this problem has been amortized and has not produced consequences;

ii. Damaged envelopes, how many, the reasons for the damage, how they were administered post factum, the reasons why they were damaged;

i. What is the condition of the 2% reserve fund of ballots? Has this amount been touched? Did it come in blocks or folded? Is it stamped on the back of this fund? If so, how many of them have a stamp and have they been used so far?

iv. Relevant minutes for guaranteeing the quantity untouched so far, and if it has been touched, the reasons why and by what act their touching was ordered;

V. Have extra sheets above 2% been produced and stamped?

Furthermore, the Democratic Party requests official explanations from the State Election Commission on:

i. What will happen to these envelopes (unsafe in the entire spectrum of identified problems and not in accordance with the normative and regulatory provisions of the CEC);

ii. How will the CEC subsequently handle the issues encountered, if they have had an effect, i.e. have become effective towards their destination (producing either double votes or the inability to receive envelopes due to the wrong address, and this was evident in the envelopes for the diaspora voting for the Elbasan Region);

iii. Concrete measures taken by the CEC to guarantee and eliminate all identified problems, within the framework of the integrity of the entire electoral process, as the principles of the CEC acts impose.

The Democratic Party requests to be informed in writing by the State Election Commission about:

Concrete data (evidence) and act-findings, for each case of opening of black bags with votes ready for departure by DHL, on a daily basis, including flight schedules/departures of shipments abroad.

How many concrete cases has DHL identified and how many cases have CEC operators identified?

Has an act of assessment been conducted and what have you done to identify those responsible for these problems?

Have the contracted or subcontracted companies been notified of various procedural actions in the phase of preparing the envelope and ballot? What are their explanations and clarifications regarding these problems that have occurred?

The Democratic Party also alleges a series of violations of standards and protocols publicly announced by the CEC regarding the distribution of envelopes for voting by Albanian citizens from the diaspora, through the subcontractor DHL.

Through several illustrative photos, the DP says that these violations include, but are not limited to:

i. Leaving envelopes under the door or in the mailbox, without ensuring physical receipt by the voter, including cases without identity verification using ID/Passport;

ii. Delivery of ballot envelopes not personally, but to third parties, mainly family members, etc. (without special authorization or without following the relevant verification and acceptance rules);

iii. Delivery of envelopes without the voter signing the relevant documentation or without presenting his/her valid means of identification;

iv. Envelopes sent by other postal service operators, other than DHL, raising serious doubts about the security, legality and authenticity of the delivery process (e.g. cases from Greece, but not only).

v. The voter was not notified of the arrival of the envelope because the phone number had an Albanian prefix and there was no way to be notified by foreign mail (e.g. DHL in Italy). The person was then notified by e-mail and according to the postman, there were many other cases like this, where the number was Italian but the Albanian prefix.

vi. Other practices not in compliance with the contract and standards approved by the CEC, which compromise the integrity and traceability of the envelope distribution process.