MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/. Nearly half of Russians welcome the opportunity to vote over the course of three days in the upcoming September elections, head of the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center’s Corporate University Mikhail Vyadro said at a lecture hosted by the Independent Public Monitoring association on Monday.
"We have just conducted a poll concerning three-day voting in the fall’s election," he pointed out. According to Vyadro, "48% of respondents were positive about the opportunity to vote for three days in the next election, 23% were indifferent and 27% were negative."
Vyadro pointed out that respondents who welcomed the opportunity viewed it as the most safe in light of the pandemic. Respondents also emphasized that voters would be able to choose the most convenient day to cast their ballots. At the same time, those who are negative about multi-day voting say that it can create conditions for election rigging.
The nationwide poll involving 1,600 respondents over 18 years of age was conducted on July 25. The margin of error does not exceed 2.5%.
Last week, Russia’s State Duma (the lower house of parliament) passed and the Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) approved a bill amending election laws, which particularly says that voting in elections and referendums can last up to three days. According to the document, a multi-day voting process will not involve early and absentee voting though voters will have the opportunity to cast their ballots in residential areas outside of polling stations. Russia’s 2020 Unified Election Day is set to take place on September 13, when 83 regions of the country will hold elections of various level.