The Central Election Commission will test the new digital system for the first time at an all-Russian training

The Central Election Commission (CEC) will conduct an all-Russian training from October 9 to November 29 to test the readiness of election commissions to conduct federal elections. During it, for the first time, individual components of the new platform of the state automated system (GAS) “Elections” 2.0 will be tested (implements information processes during the preparation and conduct of elections and processes information about the electoral process), which will subsequently replace the current GAS “Elections”. This is stated in the draft resolution of the Central Election Commission (available from Vedomosti), which was adopted by members of the commission on October 5.

Some elements of the new GAS “Elections” 2.0 have already been tested before, but within the framework of the old platform (for example, the functions of a mobile voter), CEC member Anton Lopatin told Vedomosti. Now, according to him, GAS “Elections” 2.0 is ready, but preliminary testing is required to put it into operation. After the implementation of the new system, version 2.0, the old platform of the State Automated System “Elections” will be abolished, he said, without giving an exact time frame. The main difference between GAS “Elections” 2.0 and its predecessor is that it will run entirely on domestic software, Lopatin said. For this purpose, automation systems were updated in territorial election commissions (TECs) and commissions of constituent entities, he explained.

The all-Russian training will take place in three stages. The preparatory stage is from October 9 to 31, the main stage is from November 1 to 24 (during which test voting days will take place – from November 15 to 17) and the final stage is from November 27 to 29, follows from the document.

This is the first time such a large-scale all-Russian training has been carried out, noted Alexander Sokolchuk, head of the Federal Center for Informatization under the Central Election Commission, during the CEC meeting.

In addition to GAS “Elections” 2.0, the current GAS “Elections” and the software and hardware complex for remote electronic voting (DEG) will be tested, the draft resolution says. The DEG at the federal level has been carried out since 2020. A unified identification and authentication system (USIA, on the basis of which the State Services portal operates) will be used, Sokolchuk added. The main task of the all-Russian training, according to him, is to conduct “real load tests of the digital platform,” since 2,800 TECs will enter 90,000 protocols.

DEG subsystems will be prepared for all-Russian training by the end of this month, said Alexander Volkov, vice president of Rostelecom PJSC (DEG operator), at the meeting. The most important question facing the DEG system in the upcoming elections is not how many people will vote, but how many people will come at one time during peak hours: these are the first 2-4 hours of voting. In this regard, Volkov proposed, as part of the training, to give a peak load of 2-3 million voters at this time.

Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nikolai Bulaev, in turn, noted that all 89 regions can apply to participate in the training. At the same time, where DEG has not been used before (59 regions), it is proposed to collect 1.5% of the total number of voters, and in those where it has been used – up to 3%. During the presidential elections, only those regions that have experience in using it will use DEG, Bulaev emphasized.

Developers systematically test the ability of the DEG to withstand loads and attacks as part of internal testing: the system is artificially loaded in volumes that are many times greater than what the DEG will face in the elections, Oleg Artamonov, chairman of the TEC for the DEG, told Vedomosti. The all-Russian training is intended to fine-tune the interaction of the system with voters: is everything in the system convenient for them, are there any non-obvious points, do the members of the commissions understand their roles correctly, is the interaction between them established, he added.

The main issues facing the system as part of the all-Russian training are checking for legality and legitimacy, says electoral lawyer Roman Smirnov. In this direction, it is important to resolve issues related to DEG by working out possible DDoS attacks and technical failures in advance. At the federal elections, as the electoral lawyer suggests, in addition to the DEG there will be a three-day voting period, i.e. the authorities will give the opportunity “to as many voters as possible to vote.” After the presidential campaign, the DEG system will be seriously expanded, Smirnov is sure.