At school number 1415 on Ostankinskaya Street 1, two polling stations are open at the same time: number 684 and number 685. In both, there are no queues on Saturday night, but people still walk quite densely. The president of the PEC of electoral district no. 684, Svetlana Emelyushina, told RG that out of four thousand voters assigned to the electoral district, about a thousand turned out, approximately 25 percent. “Most of the people gathered on Friday morning, when the polling stations had just opened,” she said. “We also expect an influx of people on Sunday afternoon, as happens in all elections. Turnout is usually around 35 percent, and it will most likely be the same now.”
As in all polling stations, here, in addition to the usual ballot boxes, there are electronic terminals: with their help, both voters assigned to this polling station and those registered in another district of Moscow can vote. Svetlana Emelyushina says that voters have no problem with them; even retirees, who usually have a hard time mastering new technologies, understand them with no problem.
However, all the voters interviewed by RG when leaving the polling station preferred the normal vote on paper. Muscovite Irina Shapkina said that the entire vote took no more than a couple of minutes: she quickly received a ballot, cast her vote and put it in the ballot box. “I had no doubts about who to vote for, I chose my candidate a long time ago,” she emphasized.
Pensioner Vasily Doligoida also did not decide his election directly at the electoral college: he decided in advance who he wanted to see as mayor. Vasily Ivanovich always participates in elections, and previously even conducted exit polls: he surveyed voters at the exit of polling stations and found out who they voted for. “So I know the voting system from the inside and I have no doubts about it,” he says.
Recall that the Moscow mayoral elections are held from September 8 to 10. Muscovites can vote both at polling stations and online. Five candidates are competing for the position of head of the city: the current mayor Sergei Sobyanin (“ER”), deputy of the Moscow City Duma Leonid Zyuganov (PCFR), deputy speakers of the State Duma Boris Chernyshov (LDPR) and Vladislav Davankov (“New People”), State Duma Deputy Dmitry Gusev (SRZP).
