Internet voting in Russia: why is it here to stay?

6 min readSep 13, 2019

On the 8th of September 2019, Internet voting was used for the first time in the binding elections in Russia. Due to a glitch, the system did not function for one hour during the election day. In the end, the results of elections in the precincts where Internet voting was available to voters differ significantly from ones where Internet voting was not an option. First, the turnout among I-voters (92,3%) was way higher than among all eligible voters (22%). Second, the vote distribution among candidates in the precincts with Internet voting was to the favor of the candidates from the ruling party . As a result, the independent candidate, Roman Yuneman, who was running in a precinct with Internet voting, filed a complaint to nullify the results of Internet voting.

Overall, there is a pubic perception that Internet voting still can be revoked. For instance, Alexey Navalny addresses Alexey Venediktov as “the father” of Internet voting and asks him to kill the system as he was the one who created it. Well, that is actually not so true. The idea of Internet voting implementation in Russia has been on the agenda of election administration, at least, since as early as 2008 with multiple experiments conducted all around the country (1). Besides, Russia’s long lasting interest in Internet voting has been proclaimed internationally in many occasions(2). Furthermore, long before 2019, Internet voting received public approval from the top stakeholders (3). Finally, Internet voting has been included into the National Program on Data Economy, meaning, it has no chance but to be implemented(4). All of this makes me to believe that Internet voting is not just another experiment. It is here to stay, whether we like it or not.

1. Previous experiments

Since 2008, multiple experiments in the field of remote voting have been implemented in Russia. As early as in 2008, Internet voting was implemented for a few polling stations in Tula oblast, however, unlike the current experiment, it had the non-binding nature, meaning that after casting a vote on paper, voters were asked to vote again on the Internet. In 2009, Russia ran a number of experiments using televoting in local elections [1]. Again, televoting was offered as a non-binding voting channel: all voters who cast their vote on paper, got a chance to vote over phone as well, although the latter did not have a binding power. After the voting was over, the results of paper- and televoting were compared in order to see the difference [2]. The usage of satellite and radio phones in the territories without the access to mobile networks was also on the agenda of the Central Electoral Commission in 2009 [3].

2. International consultations

Internationally, Russia has been among a few countries interested in Internet voting for more than a decade. In 2009, at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairmanship Expert Seminar on Electoral Management Bodies, Vladimir Churov in his statement proclaimed that:

“Today, when we are all trying to save money, our main hope should be in televoting in remote places difficult to access and also for citizens abroad. In the first place, this will help voters retain their individualism and, in the second place, will make the electoral system considerably cheaper”[4].

Hence, the reasoning for the need of Internet voting introduction in Russia was back then based on three arguments: to make elections cheaper to deliver for election administration, to make voting more convenient for voters living in remote areas and to voters living abroad. Therefore, Internet voting is presented as meeting the interests of both sides: voters, as well as election administration.

Back then, Russia was interested in attaining international certification for the national voting innovations[8], or, in terms of the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a newspaper published by the Government of Russia, going “To Vienna for Recognition”. On multiple occasions, the Central Electoral Commission emphasized the importance of the international certification of the Russian voting innovations, in case such innovations to be used in binding elections[9]. Moreover, ODiHR/OSCE or any other European institution was considered as a good actor for developing the international standards for certification[10]. This year, when a new voting innovation is to be used in binding elections, the idea of international certification seems to be abandoned.

In 2010, the report “Ways, means and methods of electronic voting current conditions: the Russian approach to e-voting” was presented by the Russian Federation to another international organization, the Council of Europe, for their project “Good Governance in the Information Society”. The report not only claims the “urgent need” for remote electronic voting in Russia, but also listed the previous experience with remote electronic voting in Russia, ranging from using discs, social e-cards, to mobile phones. The experiments cover diverse territories from Tomsk to Leningrad oblasts.

The interest of the Russian Federation in the topic of e-voting might be confirmed by the fact that among all countries participating in the Council of Europe project on developments in the field of e-voting, Russia was the only one who submitted more than one report, given that the overall interest was quite law with only 10 countries submitting anything[11]. Moreover, a similar report was also presented to the OSCE at the Seminar on Electronic Voting Issues by Vladimir Churov, in 2010[12].

3. Approval from the top officials

All the international activities concerning Internet voting, described above, make ground for Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a newspaper published by the Government of Russia, to proclaim Internet voting to be the favourite topic of Vladimir Churov[6].

Besides Churov, in 2008, Dmitry Medvedev, back then the President of Russia, proclaimed that he found it necessary to allow Internet voting in Russia during the meeting with Vladimir Churov, back then the Chair of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation [7].

In 2015, during the youth forum, a question regarding possibility of Internet voting in Russia was addressed to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who answered that he did not have anything against it, and it would be nice to have Internet voting in a country where number of Internet users is higher than anywhere in Europe[13].

4. Internet voting mentioned in the National Program on Data Economy

In 2018, the proposal of the Central Electoral Commission to include Internet voting into the National Program on Data Economy was approved by the prime-minister[14].

Finally, in 2017 the implementation of Internet voting was publicly mentioned as the main priority of the Central Electoral Commission to be delivered in 2019 under the umbrella of the National Program on Data Economy. Furthermore, the next step to be delivered in 2021 concerns the analysis of voters’ data including data provided from other information systems under the umbrella of the national system of data management

Hence, the discussion over introduction of Internet voting in Russia is hardly a new phenomenon. The possibility of Internet voting has been on the agenda of election administration, at least, since as early as 2008. However, due to low visibility of this topic in the public discourse from 2015 to 2018, the recent return to this topic might be confused by someone like a newly introduced agenda. What is different though is the dedication with which the government currently approaches Internet voting: although since 2009 all types of influential political actors, ranging from the President to the Head of the Central Election Commission has expressed support for Internet voting, it is only now when we get the closest to the possibility of using Internet voting in legally binding elections. The presented overview of the discussion over Internet voting in Russia also demonstrates how the role of the international community and international organizations in particular has changed over years, in line with a more global trend in the international politics of the Russian Federation.

References:

[1] http://cikrf.ru/about/board/int/churov/int_churov_dist.html

[2] “ИТАР-ТАСС”, 2.03.2009 https://digital.gov.ru/ru/events/19501/

[3] “РИА Новости”, 9.04.2009 https://digital.gov.ru/ru/events/20050/

[4] https://www.osce.org/cio/38333?download=true

[5] “ИТАР-ТАСС”, 14.10.2008 https://digital.gov.ru/ru/events/18055/

[6] “Российская газета”, 29.01.2009 https://digital.gov.ru/ru/events/19183/

[7] https://www.osce.org/cio/71298?download=true

[8] https://rg.ru/2009/07/16/churov.html

[9] “ИТАР-ТАСС”, 2.03.2009 https://digital.gov.ru/ru/events/19501/

[10] https://rg.ru/2009/07/16/churov.html

[11] https://www.coe.int/t/dgap/goodgovernance/Activities/E-voting/National%20reports/