Voters showed friendliness – Kommersant

The Central Election Commission on Wednesday reported on the results of the first stage of the Mobile PEC pilot project, in which members of precinct commissions in the regions go to voters’ homes to inform them about the upcoming elections and voting methods. In two weeks, crawlers visited almost 5.8 million houses and apartments, and in almost two-thirds of cases, residents listened to the information “from and to” – because, as the Central Election Commission believes, they “missed live communication.” Experts believe that door-to-door tours are a good way to remind people about the elections, and at the same time increase the turnout of a loyal electorate.

On August 2, the Central Election Commission approved the experiment on the implementation of the new project “Mobile PEC”. Within the framework of this project, members of precinct commissions come to the houses and apartments of residents and, using a special mobile application installed on a tablet or phone, tell people about the upcoming elections in their regions and how to vote. The first stage of the experiment was held in the regions from August 7 to 20, while the second will begin on August 25 and last until September 6. 78 regions are participating in the pilot project, some of them involve all 100% of precinct election commissions.

At a meeting of the Central Election Commission on August 23, Elmira Khaimurzina, a member of the commission in charge of the project, said that during the first stage, crawlers visited almost 5.8 million apartments and private houses, and in 3.7 million of them, residents opened the doors and listened to information brought by members of election commissions “from and before”. In percentage terms, this is 56.4% of “effective contacts”, and this is a very good result, Ms. Khaimurzina emphasized. At the first stage, 34,600 PEC members acted as crawlers, who not only told voters about the elections and voting methods, but also clarified their data, Elmira Khaimurzina noted. According to her, as a result of the work done, the members of the PEC have already managed to clarify the data on 6.6 million voters.

In addition, as Ms. Khaimurzina stated, the first stage of the door-to-door bypass project showed that “people have missed live communication” and are good at making contact. In cities, people are less open, but in rural areas, “it’s a problem to get out of the house later,” the commission member added: “Because they give tea, and pies, and jam, and pickles with them. There’s a whole life going on.” Ella Pamfilova, Chairman of the Central Election Commission, in turn, admitted that before the launch of the project, the members of the commission were “afraid and cautious”: “What if some drunken hooligan comes out, someone lets out a dog, someone in a bad mood got up on the wrong foot , and so on”. She also recalled that participation in door-to-door visits should be exclusively voluntary, as this is a “delicate and benevolent” work. According to Ms. Pamfilova, when seeing off the lineman, the voter should say “thank you” to him, and not remain in an irritated or dissatisfied state. Upon completion of the project, the Central Election Commission will “analyse it thoroughly” to decide how to carry it out in the future, the head of the commission promised.

Political analyst Aleksey Makarkin believes that the Central Election Commission is introducing door-to-door rounds in order to increase the turnout of loyal voters. Citizens who open the door to such visitors and willingly make contact with them are loyal to the state and consider PEC members as state representatives, the expert explains: “If a person is in a protest mood, he simply will not open the door. And loyal people, on the contrary, communicate friendly and benevolently. At the same time, not all voters follow the news and are interested in the topic of electoral innovations, therefore, in order to increase the turnout of loyal citizens, they need to be informed about new voting methods, such as three-day and remote electronic voting, Mr. Makarkin continues. Moreover, despite the absence of a lower turnout threshold, the concept of legitimacy of the elections still remains, he adds: “Although opposition mobilization has weakened, each region has its own situation, and somewhere, for example, a loyal electorate is not enough.”

Door-to-door tours are a good way to remind people of their civic duty, Valery Fedorov, general director of VTsIOM, believes: “Local and regional elections are taking place this year, there is no intrigue in most regions. Naturally, this reduces interest in the elections.” In addition, in many subjects of the Russian Federation, electronic voting will be held for the first time, and innovations always inspire fear, the sociologist notes. “I think that informing about new methods of voting is a preventive measure designed to advertise them and dispel existing fears,” sums up Mr. Fedorov.

Elena Rozhkova