Optical scan voting system may be introduced in Bosnia and Herzegovina's 2020 election, which would speed up counting of votes and enable the publishing of the election results soon after the polling stations are closed, the Central Election Commission said on Tuesday.

The process of vote counting is currently slowed down by various factors including the complaints that are filed to already confirmed elections results.

Speaking at a presentation of the optical vote scanning devices in Sarajevo on Tuesday, Commission member Suad Arnautovic said it was possible to make this system work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He recalled that the Parliament discussed Election Law changes which stipulate three technical advancements of the election process, including optical ballot scanning, video surveillance at polling stations and so-called Automated Fingerprint Identification System(AFIS).

The proposal did not get the support of the House of Peoples, one of the Parliament's chambers.

On May 8 the Central Election Commission presented a minor novelty in the election process, the blue pens that will be used by voters and the red pens for the election boards’ members.

According to Arnautovic, introducing the new technologies is “a necessity and future”, and it ensures the prevention of election frauds.