In Moscow summed up the results of testing the system of electronic voting before the mayoral elections

On Friday, August 25, a regional system of remote electronic voting (DEG) was tested in Moscow on the eve of the upcoming elections of the mayor and municipal deputies in the Troitsky and Novomoskovsk administrative districts (TiNAO). Muscovites could test not only the already familiar expression of will on the Internet, but also new electronic voting terminals, which will be installed at each polling station during the mayoral elections. As part of the DEG check, residents of the capital were asked to choose what they would like to receive on City Day, which this year coincides with the voting dates. Free rides for children won: they bypassed both free parking and free admission to museums.

On August 25, all Muscovites over 18 who have a full account on the mos.ru portal could take part in testing the e-voting system. And some citizens even received e-mails the day before with a link to the website of the Mayor of Moscow with an invitation to take part in testing the system. The tests did not last all day, but only from 8:00 to 14:00. The organizers explain such a restriction on voting time by the desire to subject the system to a higher load.

For DEG test organizers chose question: “Which event for residents would you choose for City Day?” The ballot offered four response options:

• free city parking;
• a pedestrian zone on one of the streets within the boundaries of the Boulevard Ring;
• free city attractions for children of preschool and school age in city parks;
• free admission to city museums.

This year the City Day in Moscow coincides with the dates of the mayoral elections. Thus, the elections will be held on September 8, 9 and 10, and City Day will be celebrated on September 9 and 10, although traditionally the capital celebrates its holiday on the first weekend of September.

In the mayoral elections, Muscovites are waiting for another electoral innovation – electronic voting terminals (TEG), which will be installed at each polling station. The votes of the voters who choose the TEG will immediately enter the electronic voting system. In each of the 146 districts of Moscow, one site worked, where it was possible to try out a new device. A Kommersant correspondent went to such a polling station in the Marfino area: it was located on the site of the usual PEC in one of the school buildings.

Before approaching the terminal and starting to vote, it was necessary to pass a passport check with a member of the precinct commission. This was done with the help of last year’s novelty – scanners for reading passport data. The Kommersant correspondent successfully passed this stage (his passport data matched the information in the electronic voter register) and gained access to the terminal. However, to go to the bulletin with questions, it was necessary to scan the passport again, and on the first attempt, the terminal refused the Kommersant correspondent, citing an incomplete entry on the mos.ru portal. However, after the second attempt at scanning, the terminal changed its mind and issued an electronic ballot.

The whole procedure – from comparing the data of a member of the commission to pressing the “vote” button on the terminal – took the Kommersant correspondent no more than five minutes.

“Everything is going smoothly, there are no failures,” Ekaterina Kuznetsova, chairman of the precinct commission in the Marfino area, told Kommersant. To work with the new terminals, members of the PECs have been trained, and if there are any problems, technical support promptly comes to the rescue, she said. According to Ms. Kuznetsova, interest in testing the new terminal at her site is quite large: by lunchtime, about 100 people have already voted. According to the observations of the Kommersant correspondent, it was really quite busy at the site.

Leaving the polling station, the Kommersant correspondent could not resist the temptation to test the system for the possibility of double voting and receive another electronic ballot on the mos.ru portal. The system did not succumb to provocation.

“Online voting is currently unavailable. You have already received the e-newsletter before,” read the inscription on the phone screen.

According to the website of the Moscow Mayor, 430,000 Muscovites took part in testing the DEG system on August 25. Artem Kostyrko, head of the Department for Improvement of Territorial Administration and Development of Smart Projects of the Moscow Government, told reporters that the check allowed the developers to first of all conduct stress tests to make sure that during the voting any emergency situation would not come as a surprise. “Today we simulated various stress scenarios, including a high load on the system and attack attempts,” said Mr. Kostyrko.

As a result of the test voting, the option “free urban attractions for children of preschool and school age in the parks of the city” won, the capital’s election observation headquarters reported. The second place was taken by the option “free city parking”, the third position was taken by the answer “free visits to city museums”. The answer “a pedestrian zone on one of the streets within the boundaries of the Boulevard Ring” received the least votes. “We will transfer the results of the vote to the mayor’s office and hope that they will be taken into account when making appropriate decisions,” Vadim Kovalev, head of the headquarters, told Kommersant.

Recall that in the elections in September, the DEG will be used by 25 regions, including the capital. Moscow uses its own platform for this, the rest of the subjects use the federal one, which is also being tested on the eve of the single voting day. So, on August 25, its developers summed up the results of a three-day testing in the bug bounty format (involving third-party experts to detect errors). According to Vladimir Dryukov, director of the Center for Monitoring and Response to Cyber ​​Attacks at Rostelecom-Solar, about 100 IT specialists participated in the audit; its results revealed only three vulnerabilities, and only one of them required adjustments to the system in terms of cyber reporting. The final testing of the federal DEG system before the elections will take place on August 30 and 31, Ella Pamfilova, chairman of the Central Election Commission, reported earlier. Those Russians who by this time will apply for participation in the DEG will be able to take part in it. In most regions, this can be done before September 4, with the exception of the Sverdlovsk region (until September 5), as well as the Chelyabinsk and Tomsk regions (until September 6).

Elena Rozhkova