Public-sector workers are being forced to vote, while others are not being allowed to. At a Moscow precinct election commission...

Forwarded From Mozhem Obyasnit

Public-sector workers are being forced to vote, while others are not being allowed to. At a Moscow precinct election commission, officials refused to issue paper ballots, citing a “technical failure.” There are also problems with offline voting in Yekaterinburg

MO studied reports of violations on the first day of State Duma voting. Voters complain of bribery and coercion, observers of ballot stuffing. Our readers also told us about problems: one was not allowed to vote in the morning even with a paper ballot, while another is being threatened with dismissal at work for not taking part in the vote.

☑️A Moscow subscriber of MO came to polling station No. 151 at around 11 a.m., but was told to return after 2 p.m. because of a technical failure. When she asked to be given paper ballots, she was told they could not even register voters. According to her, she will now try to come to the polling station again in the evening. The station belongs to the 207th central district, where popular Yabloko member Sergei Mitrokhin is running with support from Smart Voting.

☑️ At several polling stations in Moscow, electronic voting terminals are not working. Observers at PECs No. 1556 (pictured), 787, 2693, and 2133 reported failures. Voters were redirected to vote with paper ballots, and at one polling station the error “Voter not found” appeared for about an hour. Because the electronic voter list froze, the commission was also unable to organize home voting.

☑️ Another Moscow woman said that her public-sector institution is demanding that people vote under threat of dismissal. Every employee with Moscow registration is required to use remote electronic voting and ensure the participation of three more people. Nonresidents were told to attach themselves to capital polling stations, where they were promised to be taken from work, and to vote through terminals. “They said that information about everyone who voted would be sent to work,” the subscriber wrote.

☑️ An MO reader from Irkutsk Oblast reported that workers were forced to vote before 10:00 and send management a photo report. In Yoshkar-Ola, according to another reader, utility companies were calling employees on lists of those not registered for remote electronic voting and demanding that they complete the procedure and vote before lunch.

☑️ Turnout is being monitored through named coupons, parents’ chats, and geolocation. In Buryatia, there are reports of such coupons being issued at cultural institutions (pictured left) and of voters being tracked in parents’ chats; voters were also promised a no-lose lottery. In Yakutsk, teachers are being required to report every two hours on the turnout of pupils’ parents and to draw up lists of those who do not work in public-sector organizations. In Mytishchi, a voter told commission members that she needed to check in using geolocation sent from work.

☑️ In Sverdlovsk Oblast, 800 rubles are being offered for a vote in favor of United Russia. In the Berezovsky district, such offers are being sent out through acquaintances and in private messages; 600 rubles are promised for another candidate. Public-sector workers, meanwhile, are being forced to vote exclusively through remote electronic voting, some before nine in the morning. The bosses of the mother of a reader of the Yekaterinburg channel It’s My City forbade her to vote at a polling station, threatening to deprive her of her bonus.

Read more about election violations in different regions on the website