MOSCOW, December 15 (Itar-Tass) — Installation of web cameras at polling stations – a measure that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed Thursday as an instrument for dispelling public doubts about the decency of voting procedures – may become an efficacious step in terms of control over elections, a public expert said Thursday.
“If we get real-time live broadcasting in the Internet of what happens at the polling stations, this will help register the facts of ballot box stuffing, expulsion of observers and other electoral machinations,” said Alexander Brod, a member of the public technical control group at Russia’s Central Electoral Commission /CEC/.
“This will help slash the opportunities for manipulations,” he said adding however that a number of conditions should be observed along with the utilization of web cameras.
One of them, according to Brod, is installing of web cameras in a way that will rule out the showing of ballots in close-ups, which means the confidentiality of voting should not be violated by any means.
Brod admitted that attacks by hackers may pose a serious risk to the system, as the hackers may falsify the broadcasting in the Internet.
“This will require immaculate precautionary technologies,” Brod said. “Then the amassed installation of web cameras at the polling stations will help make the elections transparent.”
First web cameras appeared at the polling stations in Russia when the previous cycle of federal elections was in full swing. However, it has not acquired a mass scale to date.
Besides, Russia’s electoral legislation allows making photos and video recordings at the polls and the CEC chairman, Vladimir Churov has called on the public on a number of occasions to use this opportunity on a broader scale.