Russians abroad will not be able to use online voting in the upcoming elections

Russians who will be outside the country during the September elections will not be able to vote for them via the Internet. This decision was taken by the Central Election Commission (CEC) as a response to the “stranglement of the rights of our citizens” abroad. At the same time, the commission is looking for other ways to enable Russians who are in a foreign land to vote, despite various restrictions. Ella Pamfilova, chairman of the CEC, told reporters about all this on Thursday after the first meeting of the territorial electoral commission for online voting, which was held behind closed doors.

On August 24, the Territorial Electoral Commission for Remote Electronic Voting (TEC DEG), which organizes elections on the federal platform, met for the first meeting. Recall, electronic voting in Russia is carried out on two platforms: Moscow and federal. Residents of the capital vote at the first stage using the mos.ru portal, and at the second stage, all other regions vote through the Gosuslugi portal. This year the DEG will be held in 25 regions, including the capital. In Moscow, where the mayor will be elected in September, the Moscow City Electoral Commission is organizing online voting, while TEC DEG works with 24 other subjects of the Russian Federation.

The first meeting of TEC DEG was held behind closed doors. Commission Chairman Oleg Artamonov told Kommersant that it mainly discussed organizational issues.

In particular, the deputy chairman and secretary of the TEC were elected, members of the commission with an advisory vote were approved. The commission also decided on the procedure for broadcasting its work on election days. This year it will be not only on the CEC’s observation portal, which only registered observers have access to, but also on the VKontakte page of the TEC DEG, open to all, said Mr. Artamonov. Two cameras will show the chairman’s seat and the location of the safe with decryption keys: according to Oleg Artamonov, during the entire voting, those who wish will be able to make sure that they are safe and sound.

After the first meeting of the TEC DEG, a press conference was held for the regions that use online voting this year. Ella Pamfilova, chairman of the Central Election Commission, announced that the final testing of the DEG system on the federal platform would take place on August 30–31. Citizens who have applied for participation in the DEG and received confirmation from the system will be able to take part in it. According to Ms. Pamfilova, over 760,000 such applications have been submitted to date. Their admission will end on September 4, with the exception of the Sverdlovsk region (September 5), as well as the Chelyabinsk and Tomsk regions (September 6).

According to Ella Pamfilova, the CEC received only nine appeals about possible coercion to participate in electronic voting: “Across the country in 24 regions, this is nothing.”

But even these complaints are treated very reverently by the CEC and involve law enforcement agencies and governors in the proceedings, the head of the CEC assured. “The DEG is already making its way through the road with difficulty, because there are parties that call for it to be banned, and there is a lot of speculation about this. We check each appeal very carefully,” Ms. Pamfilova emphasized.

At the same time, Russians who will be abroad on election day will not be able to take part in online voting this year, Ella Pamfilova said. She called this decision “a response to the stifling of the rights of our citizens who are abroad.” “Unfortunately, we were not the initiators. Our former Western partners from a number of countries that designated us as an enemy and tried to strangle us with all sorts of sanctions, they limited the rights of our citizens as much as possible,” explained Ms. Pamfilova. Therefore, the CEC has provided secure mechanisms for the DEG system that will not allow voting in Russian elections outside the country.

A more illustrative explanation of why the Russians will not be able to use the DEG abroad, was tried to give the audience by the deputy chairman of the CEC, Nikolai Bulaev: “Neighbors are rushing over the fence to you? No! It’s the same with the DEG!.. It’s like breaking a hole in the fence and let everyone walk.”

Nevertheless, according to Ella Pamfilova, the commission is still “puzzling” over finding ways and “at least some holes” to organize voting for Russians abroad.

The CEC Chairperson also reminded once again that in the presidential elections in March 2024, only those regions that have experienced it before will be able to apply the DEG. “About 30 regions. Those who have experience, and we clearly understand and know their potential, their capabilities,” said Ms. Pamfilova.

Recall, the DEG federal platform has been used since 2020, when the Kursk and Yaroslavl regions took part in the experiment in by-elections to the State Duma. In 2021, Sevastopol, Nizhny Novgorod, Murmansk and Rostov regions joined the DEG for the first time. In 2022, DEG was first used in the Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Novgorod, Pskov and Tomsk regions. Finally, in 2023, the largest number of newcomer regions is expected: these are the Altai, Kamchatka and Perm regions, Crimea, the Nenets district, Chuvashia, Karelia, as well as Arkhangelsk, Belgorod, Vladimir, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Tula and Chelyabinsk regions. Moscow was the first to start using electronic voting – this happened in the elections to the Moscow City Duma in 2019.

Elena Rozhkova, Anastasia Kornya