“Chickens are counted in autumn” — an article by Tatiana Tereshchenko for “Zakon”

Everyone knows that only zebras are black and white. In all other cases, options are possible - just like in the joke, when a pessimist and an optimist fly down from a skyscraper, a pessimist mumbles gloomily that it won't get any worse, and an optimist joyfully exclaims: "No, it will!" Moderate realists will add that it's not worth making premature conclusions based on intermediate data — as they say, chickens are counted in the fall.

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In general, counting is a favorite activity of September.

In schools, children begin to learn the basics of arithmetic, singing a well-known song to be sure: "Two times two is four, two times two is four, / This is known to everyone in the whole world. / Two times two is four, two times two is four, / Not three, not five, you need to know that!"[1]

With such musical mnemonics, it is hardly possible to make a mistake or confuse the rules.

But at the traditional parliamentary elections, which were held under the slogan "We choose together"[2], it did not work out to sing in chorus: not really serious, or something, and the format is different. Is it a joke — the first federal-level elections in Russia, in which the latest achievements of anti-coronavirus legislation were used!

The CEC, implementing the right received after the amendments to the electoral legislation, made two important decisions at once: on (1) remote electronic voting (REV)[3] (2) for three days from September 17 to 19[4] to provide additional opportunities for the exercise of electoral rights, and at the same time to prevent the accumulation of crowds of voters at polling stations[5]. As indicated on various official information sites, REV, or simply online voting, allows you to participate in computer voting anywhere in the world, without visiting a polling station, subject to submitting an application on the portal "Public Services"[6].

And although electronic voting has already been tested several times, including during last year's plebiscite on an amendment to the Constitution[7], there was still an intrigue about how it would work in an election situation, even in an experimental mode.

On the website mos.ru in the traditional metropolitan nostalgic style, a bit reminiscent of the aesthetics of Soviet times, campaign materials were posted about why online voting is convenient. Particular attention was paid to the novelties and "buns" of the REV in comparison with the traditional voting in the booth [8]. For example: it has become easier and faster to register for electronic voting, there is an opportunity available to everyone to become an "observer", i.e. an electronic observer of the election process, without leaving home and without any special "direction". In a word, "vote — I don't want to", even sitting, even lying down.

Among the novelties of the REV, provided exclusively to Muscovites so far, is deferred voting: those who have changed their mind or made a mistake can open the ballot again after sending it, vote from another device or browser [9]. However, you should not delude yourself: of course, only the last vote will be counted. The main thing is that the system does not misfire. And she didn't. Although one may ask: why do adult conscious people of voting age need such an option at all, who are believed to be able to analyze and make serious decisions in advance and with a responsible attitude to the result?

As stated by the head of the Moscow Department of Information Technology E. Lysenko, the results of the DEG were recalculated at least four times, given the presence of "a unique function for people - deferred voting", which was used by many. Lysenko, considering the experiment successful, said that "the experts quickly deciphered the data of the ballots, but had to conduct multi-course and multi-vector checks of the correctness of the chains" [10]. According to the regulations, A. added. Lobonok, a member of the PEC for REV, SAS "Vybory" is not connected to the Internet for security purposes, and the results of online voting are independently uploaded into it by the PEC[11]. In general, hope for a blockchain for the people, but do not be bad yourself.

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1 Author of the text M. Plyatkovsky, composer V. Shainsky.
2 URL: http://tass.ru/politika/11688679 (last access: 10/15/2021).
3 Resolution of the CEC of the Russian Federation dated 05/25/2021 No. 7/49-8.
4 Resolution of the CEC of the Russian Federation dated 06/18/2021 No. 11/87-8.
5 URL: http://tass.ru/politika/12327517 (last access: 15.10.2021).
6 URL: http://vybory.gov.ru/#what (last access: 15.10.2021).
7 URL: http://tass.ru/obschestvo/12024823 (last access: 15.10.2021).
8 URL: http://www.mos.ru/news/item/943043073/ (last access: 15.10.2021).
9 URL: http://www.mos.ru/city/projects/deg2021/#rec343383065 (last access: 15.10.2021).
10 URL: http://www.rbc.ru/polotocs/20/09/2021/61484f049a79477663a6747c (last access: 15.10.2021).
11 ibid.

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