This became possible thanks to the Mobile Voter system, which removed the link to place of residence / D. Abramov / Vedomosti

Moscow could become a pilot region for voting by voters outside its region, Deputy Mayor of the capital Anastasia Rakova proposed at a meeting of the Central Election Commission on Wednesday. According to her, several million Muscovites go to their dachas in the summer, several hundred thousand live there, and they should be given the opportunity to vote for the mayor on September 9. This became possible thanks to the Mobile Voter system, which removed the link to place of residence, although the initiative is technically complex, Rakova admitted. As an experiment, the mayor's office wants to create temporary polling stations where there are large gardening associations: in the Moscow region, 11,000 such associations "are located quite compactly." To organize the polling stations, they will analyze data from the Troika card and mobile operators. "The main criterion will be the ability to provide video surveillance and send observers," the Deputy Mayor promised.

The CEC members were wary of the initiative. "It's good that you remembered about voter turnout, but the path you are taking is questionable from a legislative point of view," said Yevgeny Kolyushin. According to Aleksandr Kinev, other regions may also have a similar desire, and an experiment in 85 regions is "too much." Valery Kryukov believes it is important that voters at dachas do not remain on the lists in the capital. Moscow was supported by the CEC Chairperson Ella Pamfilova: until the single voting day is postponed at least until October, the problem of attracting voters remains, and methodological recommendations have already been prepared for the regions based on Moscow's proposal, she said. CEC Secretary Maya Grishina emphasized the need to comply with the Mobile Voter rules: there will be no automatic inclusion in the voter lists, so there should be a list of all polling stations 45 days before the vote.

It is planned to create from 100 to 500 such sites, said the head of the legal department of the Moscow City Electoral Commission, Rima Kuznetsova, at a meeting of the Moscow City Duma commission on state construction. The Moscow City Duma may adopt the amendments as early as Thursday, said the head of the commission, Aleksandr Semennikov.

Summer residents will be able to vote for the mayor of Moscow at special polling stations

Politics / Democracy

Grigory Melkonyants, co-chairman of Golos, believes that Moscow's initiative is a step towards extraterritorial voting, allowing voters to vote where it is most convenient for them. This is good, but many problems may arise: monitoring becomes more complicated, it is unclear how to respond to violations and where the higher commission will be, whether video surveillance will be provided and whether there will be premises for voting, he lists. "If there are 100 polling stations, then this is normal, but if 500, then this is a fifth of Moscow's polling stations," the expert notes. He does not rule out that the initiative is connected with the appointment of former deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission Leonid Ivlev as an adviser to the mayor: "This is not like what has been in Moscow in recent years. Such revolutionary initiatives to change legislation in such a short time before the start of the campaign do not inspire optimism among election participants and reduce trust. This will also affect other regions: imagine that at the next elections we will see ballot boxes at polling stations for the leaders of Moscow, Moscow, Tver and Kaluga regions at the same time.”

Participation of summer residents in the Moscow mayoral elections could become an example for all of Russia