On December 4, 2011, the Kremlin crooks gave us a master class in "how we steal votes." Exactly one year has passed—an excellent reason to remind everyone that on November 1, amendments to the Federal Law "On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation to Participate in a Referendum" came into force, according to which precinct election commissions are formed for five years (until April 2018).
The commissions now being formed will take part in the next presidential election (2018) and parliamentary election (2016); in Moscow, these commissions will also participate in the election for mayor of Moscow (2015) and the Moscow City Duma (city legislature) election (2014). It does not matter whether or not we believe in these dates and deadlines. It does not matter that all of us will do everything we can to kick certain people out before their so-called term of "office" expires. The commissions are being formed, and if we ignore this process, they will be formed without us. To ensure that there is at least one honest person on a commission—someone committed to fair and transparent elections—we need to join precinct election commissions. Experience shows that even a single commission member can obstruct fraud. You will be able to: Take part in the commission’s work from the very beginning and review its documents, which makes it possible to spot and stop planned violations in advance. If you can earn the respect of the other commission members through your competence and motivation, in some situations you will be able to prevent at least some violations. You will not be so easily removed or ignored; it will be much easier for you than for an ordinary observer to enter the territorial election commission, interact with law enforcement representatives, and so on. If you disagree with how the voting and the vote count were conducted, you may refuse to sign the official record and instead submit a dissenting opinion, which must by law be attached to the record and serves as grounds for challenging the election results in court. Practice shows that commissions really do not like receiving such dissenting opinions and are prepared to make fairly serious concessions to "stubborn" commission members to avoid them. Serving as a precinct election commission member requires responsibility and motivation, but it will not require you to give up your regular job or other activities. Regardless of the fact that precinct election commissions are formed for five years, in practice they only work in the run-up to specific elections. If for some reason you are unable to carry out your duties, no one can force you to work on a precinct election commission. You may submit a statement relinquishing your authority at any time, for any reason. Answers to other important questions can be found here. On November 24, a meeting of the Coordination Council took place, at which a decision was made to begin recruiting people to work on precinct election commissions. Candidates for precinct commission membership may be nominated by parliamentary parties (which are guaranteed seats on precinct election commissions), on the basis of proposals from a municipal representative body, by meetings of voters at their place of residence, work, service, or study, or by public associations. In the regions, candidates may also be nominated by parties represented in the local legislature (they too are guaranteed seats). Today, as part of RosVybory, we launched a special website where you can fill out an application form as a candidate for membership on a precinct election commission. Those who fill out the form will be nominated by a meeting of voters convened by the Coordination Council and by parliamentary parties willing to cooperate. Those nominated by a meeting of voters are not guaranteed seats on precinct election commissions, so we will do everything we can to coordinate with parliamentary parties, but we cannot guarantee anything—you know what our parliamentary parties are like. For now, we are organizing this work only in Moscow. In other regions, you can contact local branches of parliamentary parties directly—their addresses can be found on our website—or hold meetings of voters on your own (document templates and instructions can be downloaded from our website). Is there a chance that not a single person who signs up will become a commission member? Of course! Obviously, Sobyanin and his "Moscow" "City" Duma, where 32 of the 35 deputies are United Russia members, have only one way to keep control of the city: through mass falsification. That is why they will do everything they can to keep our candidates off precinct election commissions and to staff the commissions with submissive teachers and crooks from the DEZ (district housing maintenance offices). Well, fine—then this strategy will be clear to us, and our task will be to inform all Muscovites that not a single opposition representative has been included on the precinct election commissions. One way or another, we have to make an honest effort—water does not flow under a лежачий камень (Russian proverb: "nothing happens unless you take action"). Become a candidate for membership on a precinct election commission.