The State Duma appreciated the return to one-day voting

Russia should return to the practice of voting in elections on one day instead of three already this fall – by the Single Voting Day (UDD) on September 10th. Such a proposal is contained in a letter from a member of the Federation Council Elena Afanasyeva (LDPR) addressed to the chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation Ella Pamfilova. The document was sent on May 11, Afanasyeva told Vedomosti.

In the letter, the senator refers to the decision of the World Health Organization dated May 5, 2023 to end the state of emergency for COVID-19, as well as to the widespread abolition of sanitary restrictions in Russia. “<…> I suggest that the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation exercise its right to return to the usual one-day voting instead of a three-day one during the next Single Voting Day in September 2023. A single voting day should live up to its name,” she notes.

According to Afanasyeva, “a norm that is acceptable in a pandemic should not become permanent.” She also points out that moving back to one-day voting would take “a colossal burden” off election committee members and save budget money that could be used to support the army.

Vedomosti sent a request to the CEC.

A law allowing elections to be held for several days in a row, no more than three, in election campaigns of any level, was adopted by the State Duma in 2020, in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. It was clarified that the changes are introduced “in order to create conditions for the protection of the health of voters.” According to this norm, the duration of voting in the regions is determined by the relevant election commission, and at the federal level – by the Central Election Commission. Three-day voting was used for the first time in September 2020.

Decision to introduce three-day voting [в 2020 г.] was timely and correct, said Daniil Bessarabov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation (United Russia), to Vedomosti. In his opinion, such a system is convenient for voters, which makes the voter turnout higher.

In addition, despite the abolition of the state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic, “the topic of security is still relevant in Russia,” he noted. Therefore, abandoning the three-day voting “is inappropriate in every sense,” Bessarabov believes.

Another first deputy chairman of the Committee on State Construction and Legislation, Yuri Sinelshchikov (KPRF), did not agree with him. “In my opinion and in the opinion of the Communist Party faction, returning to one voting day does not just make sense, but is necessary. The second and third days lead to all sorts of fraud,” he told Vedomosti. Sinelshchikov admits that a three-day vote is more convenient for voters, but it is possible only “with honest election commissions.”

It is possible to return the vote in one day quite quickly, the deputy is sure, and be in time for the September elections. This requires a new decision of the CEC.

Political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov doubts that the authorities are ready to return to one voting day in the near future. “I wouldn’t expect changes. From the point of view of regulating voter turnout and counting votes, multi-day voting is much more comfortable, and there were no signs that the authorities were not satisfied with it,” he told Vedomosti.

Political scientist Rostislav Turovsky believes that there is no chance for a positive response from the CEC to Afanasyeva’s letter. Rather, this is another way for the Liberal Democratic Party to “declare itself”, the expert believes. He is confident that this year the election procedure will not change. “Its use was formally associated with the pandemic, but the practice itself is beneficial to the authorities and will continue, since it allows you to influence the turnout and, in general, has become a convenient electoral procedure,” Turovsky told Vedomosti.

With the introduction of the three-day voting format, the workload on members of election commissions has significantly increased, it has become more difficult for them to physically endure the “three-day marathon,” notes electoral lawyer Anton Rudakov. However, the system, in his opinion, justified itself by giving the opportunity to vote to a larger number of voters.

The level of transparency of the elections has not changed, but it has become much more difficult for parties to monitor the voting process, the lawyer said. “With a three-day vote, parties need to mobilize a much larger number of supporters in order to supply polling stations with observers. Only large parliamentary parties can do this,” says Rudakov.