Presidential election ballots already mailed to voters abroad
Ljubljana - The National Electoral Commission, plagued by criticism this spring for sending out ballots to voters residing abroad very late, has decided to speed things up and has now sent out empty ballots a month and a half before voting day.
The aim is to make sure the maximum number of voters who reside abroad can vote, the Commission said on Monday after receiving assurances from the national postal company that the ballots have been shipped out.
Several Slovenians living abroad have confirmed on social media they have received the ballots.
This is in stark contrast to the general election in spring, when ballots were sent out less than two weeks before election day and just before Easter, when international postal channels shut down.
As a result, many voters did not even get the ballots before voting day, and many of those who did get the ballots could not mail them back in time.
At the time, there were problems with party logos that required the re-printing of thousands of ballots.
But most importantly, the Electoral Commission waited until all the candidacies were formally confirmed before mailing out the ballots.
This time, voters will receive empty ballots and will have to write in the candidate's name.
Official data shows there are almost 1.7 million eligible voters, of which more than 106,000 with a foreign permanent residence.
In the general election in spring, under 15,000 ballots were mailed in from abroad.