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Today, reports have been coming in from various districts in Moscow about problems with paper voting: queues are forming at polling stations, voters are being told about “system failures” and are not being given paper ballots. In some cases, people are being encouraged to vote using electronic terminals. The Moscow City Election Commission explains the issues as hacker attacks on the electronic infrastructure. Later, the issuing of paper ballots in Moscow resumed.
On top of all this, criminal liability has now been added to the mix. Here’s an explanation of how this is all connected.
What is happening with the paper ballots?
Moscow residents and people from other regions have been messaging the OVD-Info bot today, saying they’re unable to cast a paper vote. This has been explained by “the system is frozen”—that is, the system that needs to check residence registration isn’t working. At one polling station, an emergencies ministry representative told those gathered that the issue was “affecting all of Moscow,” and a commission member said the system used for registering people to receive and print paper ballots was broken.
Later, people were allowed into polling stations, but huge queues formed. One voter who wrote to us said they were repeatedly encouraged to vote using the DEG system (remote electronic voting). In the end, they managed to get a paper ballot, but only after queuing for a considerable time.
It’s worth remembering that a technical malfunction in itself does not deprive someone of their right to vote. In such cases, it’s recommended to wait until the system is back up and try to vote again later the same day.
Politician Maksim Kats believes that Moscow’s system as a whole is pushing people towards electronic voting.
“In Moscow, they really dislike paper ballots and are trying by all means to force people to vote via the DEG system, even at polling stations,” said Kats.
Deputy chair of the Moscow City Election Commission Dmitry Reut has reported “massive external cyberattacks” on the capital’s electronic voting system. According to him, the attacks disrupted, among other things, the electronic voter list, which is responsible for issuing paper ballots at polling stations. However, Reut claims that the system is now operating stably.
What’s the issue with DEG?
The main criticism of electronic voting is that it is hard to verify independently. With standard voting, observers can oversee the handing out of ballots, the ballot boxes, and the vote count. In the case of DEG, much of the process takes place inside the electronic system.
“Important Stories” call DEG a “black box”: observers can primarily judge how it works based on information provided by the developers and election organisers. Journalists have examined a leak of documents from the new State Automated System “Elections,” and found that the system accepts the results from Moscow’s DEG even in cases where the electronic signature on the result file hasn’t been validated.
There are also more practical problems. In the early days of voting, users encountered virtual queues to access the capital’s DEG system.
And what about criminal liability?
Deputy chair of the Moscow City Election Commission Dmitry Reut stated that the Public Headquarters has received several reports about people who, after receiving an electronic ballot, then asked for a paper one.
“Such actions can definitely be considered an attempt at double voting, which means they are unlawful acts carrying liability under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. All incidents will be checked, and materials will be sent to law enforcement agencies for further action,” said Reut.
It’s true that receiving a second ballot for voting is punishable, but it’s an administrative offence. If someone receives a second ballot in order to vote again, they can face a fine of 30,000 roubles (about US$320) (part 2 of article 5.22 of the Code of Administrative Offences). Criminal liability applies for receiving ballots for voting more than twice (part 2 of article 142.2 of the Criminal Code).