The Central Election Commission approved recommendations on the organization of polling stations abroad

The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Wednesday spoke about the peculiarities of voting abroad in the March presidential elections: there will be fewer polling stations, the duration of the procedure may be shortened, and it is better for Russians who are not registered with a consulate to submit an application in advance about their intention to vote at their location. However, as the Central Election Commission explains, the possibility of being included in the voter lists by attendance is also provided, but then the citizen will have to sign a statement stating that he has not voted anywhere else.

On January 24, the Central Election Commission approved recommendations on the organization of voting stations for presidential elections abroad. Their exact number will become known after February 3, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs transmits the data to the CEC, but it is already clear that it will be less than in 2018, warned CEC member Pavel Andreev. This is due to the fact that most “unfriendly” countries do not guarantee the safety of voters on the way to the polling stations, and with a sharp reduction in the number of employees of diplomatic missions, the Central Election Commission explains. After all, to create a precinct commission, a minimum of three people are required, and some consulates don’t even have that, complained the chairman of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova.

New realities were taken into account in the recommendations, the document was also agreed upon with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Andreev said. Thus, the start and end times, as well as the duration of voting, can be changed by decision of the head of the diplomatic mission if the voting poses a threat to the life or health of Russians. It is possible to produce ballots locally (ready-made forms can only be delivered to 32 countries). The procedure for appointing observers will not differ from the domestic Russian one, but at a foreign site they must present the original referral signed by the candidate, his authorized representative or the public chamber.

Russians who are registered on the territory of the Russian Federation, but want to vote abroad, are asked to submit an application in advance to be included in the voter list at their location (the Mobile Voter mechanism assumes that this can be done through the State Services, MFC, or directly at the election commission). This rule is provided in order to exclude the possibility of double voting, the Central Election Commission explains.

Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nikolai Bulaev especially noted the point of the recommendations, which states: a citizen can be included in the voter list in only one polling station. Taken together with the rule that gives Russians abroad the right to submit an application to vote at their location, this should be understood to mean that if, when leaving Russia, a citizen did not submit a corresponding application, the foreign election commission does not have the right to include him in the list, otherwise he will break the law, Mr. Bulaev believes. Perhaps this is too harsh a formulation and should be corrected, but it is precisely this form that “brings certainty to relations,” added the deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission. In addition, a voter should not be included in the list if a foreign commission determines that he has already voted online.

“I don’t agree that this is harsh,” responded Ms. Pamfilova. “This is normal, this eliminates the possibility of provocations for double, triple voting, which we encountered. Taking into account the fact that in general the voter came and voted after the fact, this is a normal restriction that will put an obstacle in the way of those who want to discredit the elections by running or moving from one polling station to another.” Let us recall that in 2020, Russian citizen Yael Ilyinsky living in Israel said that she voted on amendments to the Constitution three times – at two polling stations and online, explaining this with a desire to identify shortcomings in the voting system. However, in November last year, the Central Election Commission announced that the use of online voting abroad in presidential elections would be impossible.

As Pavel Andreev explained to Kommersant, until mandatory consular registration is introduced (as expected, this will happen in 2025), nothing fundamentally will change for those voting abroad. It’s just that according to the rules, those who are registered in the Russian Federation must register at a polling station abroad through the “Mobile Voter”, and the CEC considered it necessary to remind about this once again. To do this, you can use, for example, your personal account on “Gosuslugi” (if you have a record matched with the State Automated System “Elections”). If for some reason this turns out to be impossible, then a Russian will still be able to vote at a foreign polling station, but he will first have to sign a statement stating that he has not voted anywhere and understands the responsibility for violating the law, the CEC member emphasized.

As Nikolai Bulaev reported at the meeting, the Central Election Commission has already begun to work to ensure that the databases of electronic voting participants and those who submitted applications through the “Mobile Voter” are available to commissions formed abroad. In turn, diplomatic missions should carry out explanatory work among fellow citizens, the Central Election Commission believes.

According to the Central Election Commission as of July 1, 2023 (based on consular registration data), there are 2 million voters outside the Russian Federation. The number of voters in elections is traditionally much smaller: for example, about 475 thousand “foreign” Russians took part in the 2018 presidential elections. Given the new wave of emigration after February 24, 2022, the number of voters abroad may increase.

Anastasia Kornya