Apr 9, 2023 11:06 PM
Online voting is the key to Russia’s election rigging, but the next presidential election will require gerrymandering too
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/04/06/...-for-fraud
EXCERPTS: The Russian authorities have decided the reduce the number of election polling stations available to voters. [...] Electronic voting was implemented in Moscow during the State Duma elections in 2021. A year later, it was once again an option for city council elections. Both times, counting procedures for electronic ballots were entirely opaque, provoking numerous scandals.
[...] A United Russia insider who spoke to Meduza explains the shrinking number of local polling stations as a consequence of major developments in “electronic services,” suggesting that in-person voting is less in demand now than it used to be. Another source close to the Kremlin’s political team says the government is intent on expanding online voting
[...] electronic voting is immensely advantageous to the current regime. All the political consultants who spoke with Meduza agree that online polling “presents unlimited potential for falsification.” Election-law attorney Andrey Buzin, who previously managed the voter advocacy organization Golos, confirms this assessment: “Electronic voting is not a controllable voting method in principle. Other methods can be monitored by grassroots representatives, but electronic voting cannot.”
Having fewer polling stations, Buzin points out, can also be useful to state propaganda, since it’ll be easier for TV crews, for example, to record footage of long lines of voters waiting to cast their ballots. It’ll also be easier to staff polling stations with United Russia loyalists. “The reduction of polling locations,” Buzin explains, “is certainly an element of the degradation of the election process in Russia, but it’s not the main element. What’s central is the reduction of political competition.” (MORE - missing details)
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/04/06/...-for-fraud
EXCERPTS: The Russian authorities have decided the reduce the number of election polling stations available to voters. [...] Electronic voting was implemented in Moscow during the State Duma elections in 2021. A year later, it was once again an option for city council elections. Both times, counting procedures for electronic ballots were entirely opaque, provoking numerous scandals.
[...] A United Russia insider who spoke to Meduza explains the shrinking number of local polling stations as a consequence of major developments in “electronic services,” suggesting that in-person voting is less in demand now than it used to be. Another source close to the Kremlin’s political team says the government is intent on expanding online voting
[...] electronic voting is immensely advantageous to the current regime. All the political consultants who spoke with Meduza agree that online polling “presents unlimited potential for falsification.” Election-law attorney Andrey Buzin, who previously managed the voter advocacy organization Golos, confirms this assessment: “Electronic voting is not a controllable voting method in principle. Other methods can be monitored by grassroots representatives, but electronic voting cannot.”
Having fewer polling stations, Buzin points out, can also be useful to state propaganda, since it’ll be easier for TV crews, for example, to record footage of long lines of voters waiting to cast their ballots. It’ll also be easier to staff polling stations with United Russia loyalists. “The reduction of polling locations,” Buzin explains, “is certainly an element of the degradation of the election process in Russia, but it’s not the main element. What’s central is the reduction of political competition.” (MORE - missing details)