"Pre-voting applications for this election overall for the state of Massachusetts are almost twice less the number of applications for the general elections in, say, April 2023, but the low number may also be due to the fact that here, as elsewhere abroad, polling stations were automatically opened in places where more than 100 people voted at least once in the last 5 years. Thus, in the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut, a total of 5 polling stations were automatically opened - 2 near Boston, 1 each on the island of Nantucket and in Hyannis on Cape Code; as well as 1 in Norwalk. These are also the closest polling stations for New England - including the states of Rhode Island, Maine, and Vermont," says Nadya Ullman, a member of the Board of Directors of the Bulgarian center in New England. We also owe her the videos with compatriots from Boston, where election day started at 1 p.m. Bulgarian time.

In the early parliamentary vote today, Bulgarians abroad can choose a party or a coalition, but they do not have the option of preferences, as can be indicated by voters in the country. For many of our compatriots in the Boston area, this weekend includes voting in both the Bulgarian early parliamentary elections and the American elections - Nadia Ullman reminds us:

"This fall, another early parliamentary election in Bulgaria coincides with the US presidential election season (on November 5th). Early voting in the US election is already underway in many places in the US, and early polling stations are open this weekend, but we also have the opportunity to also vote by mail - with a prior request."

"I will vote again and again, as many times as I have to," says our compatriot Didi Hatcher. She is the mother of two children who study at the Bulgarian School in Boston and will vote because she expects change in her homeland: "If we want some things to change, we have to do something and create this improvement ourselves".