https://www.site/2017-08-15/kak_stat_nablyudatelem_na_vyborah_10_sentyabrya

How to become an observer in the September 10 elections

On September 10, on a single voting day, elections will be held throughout Russia. Sverdlovskaya will host gubernatorial elections and elections of local dumas in 49 municipalities. The only way for an ordinary citizen to control how legal the voting process will be is to become an observer. Traditionally, training for observers is conducted by the Golos organization, it is on its training manuals that all parties rely in preparation. We tell you how to become an observer, what to learn and what to expect at the polling station.

Who is an observer?

An observer is a representative of a party or a registered candidate who is at the polling station throughout the election day and controls that the voting itself and the vote counting process take place legally. Any citizen of Russia who is 18 years old can become an observer. He must be sent to the polling station by the party or candidate, but it is not necessary to be a member of the party.

How to sign up?

The easiest way is to sign up through the Golos organization, which specializes in training observers and monitoring elections not only in Russia. The application can be left on the website of the organization or in a special questionnaire, which was published by the coordinator of the "Voice" in the Sverdlovsk region Alexander Grezev. After that, you will be contacted and invited to study.

After studying, a site will be determined for you according to your wishes and invited to pick up the documents. This year, according to Grezev, Golos will not train observers, but members of the PEC with the right to consultative vote - they have somewhat more powers. Difficult sites are usually sent to experienced observers who already know how the process goes.

In addition, you can contact a party close to you in ideology and ask to become an observer from it. Not all parties are ready to accept people "from the street", often large parties already have their own pool of observers, but you may be lucky. In one of the parties, the website was told that they were trying to appoint an observer to the polling station at the place of residence, so that he himself could vote, and also to make it easier to get home, because the counting of votes could drag on past midnight.

How to prepare?

Both in the "Voice" and in the parties, a 1.5-2-hour training on how to be an observer awaits you. The first training for observers has already been held in Yekaterinburg, according to Alexander Grezev, there will be 7-8 more large trainings. Alternatively, the 248-page Short Term Observer's Handbook can be read. In the parties they say that they also study according to the manuals of the "Voice". Separately, you need to study the Electoral Code. You can read publications in the media about what were the violations in the past elections and whether there were any in your area in order to be prepared in advance for something like this.

It is necessary to stay at the polling station until the end of the counting of votes and filling out the protocol, otherwise everything would be pointless. Be prepared that in extreme cases you will stay until morning, so get a good night's sleep the night before.

What can an observer do?

An observer has the right to follow all the actions of the employees of the election commission for which he works, to monitor the counting of votes, draw up a protocol with the results of voting, file complaints about all violations, receive a certified copy of the protocol, as well as take photographs and videos, having previously said about this PEC.

What is forbidden to the observer?

Observers are strictly prohibited from touching ballots, let alone giving them to voters. In no case should a voter be helped to vote, even if he asks very strongly for it. An observer cannot take part in the counting of votes, participate in the work of the commission. It is forbidden to agitate voters for any of the candidates, even if a pensioner tearfully asks you for whom to put a tick for her - you can’t prompt. Violation of any of these points will be a reason for removal from the site.

At the same time, remember that removing you from the site without a court decision has been prohibited since last year, before the commission could remove the observer by its own decision. The representative of the commission will probably go with a statement to the court, which will consider the document immediately. So far, this is not a very common phenomenon, which almost no one has encountered in practice. According to observers, the PECs know about the secret order of the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, that it is better not to touch the observers without a reason.

How to behave in the field?

Experienced observers advise that there should always be at least one independent observer on the site. For example, if there are three of you, then you can’t all go to lunch or go to the toilet together. According to observers, the most important principle is continuity, if the polling station was left for at least half an hour, then you can not follow it further, because this time is enough to, for example, throw in ballots.

It is undesirable to conflict with members of the election commission, especially because of minor violations that cannot affect the election results. Many experienced observers agree with the commission that they will not find fault with minor violations, but all the important part of the work, for example, the vote count, will be carried out strictly according to the law, without speeding up the process that PEC members like to resort to. Observers advise that it is better not to quarrel with the commission, but to help them, especially if its members know the law worse.

In Golos, they advise to address only the heads of the commission (chairman, deputy, secretary), preferably by name and patronymic, not to raise your voice, to be extremely polite. AT last years PECs are already accustomed to independent observers, but there are still cases when particularly persistent activists were removed from polling stations under any pretext. If the commission refuses to work with observers according to the law, then you need to start taking action. All claims and comments should be made in writing. Golos advises you to be as persistent as possible, even if the chairman of the commission says that he is busy and does not pay attention to the violation you indicated. Moreover, if you see a gross violation of the law that is happening right in front of you, for example, you witnessed a stuffing, then you can physically prevent the offense.

Among the residents of Nizhny Tagil on the day of elections on September 10. And although officially the festival "Ural Gems" has nothing to do with the people's will, in order to take part in the prize draw, you must first vote.

At polling station No. 2216, a flyer for participation in the draw is issued along with the ballots. The room with the instant win-win lottery is adjacent to the one where the voting takes place.

“We already have 600 people. 6 won home appliances. The same is true for the surrounding areas. Do you know if someone won an apartment?”, - share the women in T-shirts with the Ural Gems logo, which give out prizes.

Whether there is a coveted coupon for a car in a glass cube, they do not know. Boxes with lottery tickets arrived at the sites sealed, what percentage of souvenirs among the prizes at each site is a mystery.

“It is a pity to look at elderly people who, with a shaking hand, with hope in their eyes, take out a lottery ticket from the drum and in return receive a trifling souvenir. They didn’t fill out any questionnaire in front of me, they just vigorously discussed that the woman allegedly won the car, ”says Natalia from Tagil.

On the Clapboard, people slowly pulled themselves up to the polling stations. Someone went to vote, and someone just to try their luck.

“Today I came here at least for a car,” says Anton, “But having won a souvenir - a fridge magnet, I was extremely disappointed. I do not believe that among ordinary people there are those who will win a car, and even more so an apartment.”

Some were also happy with simple gifts - felt-tip pens, notebooks, flashlights, especially those who came with children.

“My husband and I each won a pack of felt-tip pens. Our granddaughter started first grade this year. A good help in the office, ”Lyudmila laughs.

“Today my son said to me in the morning - dad, we will win a thermopot. We won it. The child said that if you really want something with all your heart, then the dream will come true. After that, I also begin to believe in miracles,” says Danil.

At several polling stations, the lottery ended before 20:00. However, the festival fulfilled its mission - the voter turnout in the Sverdlovsk region turned out to be one of the highest in Russia.

https://www.site/2017-08-22/fond_uralskie_samocvety_ichet_novuyu_formu_dlya_rozygrysha_prizov_v_den_vyborov

15 apartments, 130 cars, 710,000 gifts

The organizers of the Sverdlovsk pre-election "lottery" are looking for a legal way to conduct it

The Ural Gems Foundation, which organizes the festival of the same name in the Sverdlovsk region, has decided on the list of prizes that will be drawn on September 10, the day of the governor's election. But how the draw will take place, the organizers have not yet figured out. And the advertising of the event, which should increase the turnout in the elections, is not very active in the region yet. Experts believe that the festival does not need active PR, because its official mission is to cover up the campaign to increase turnout in the elections.

The action, which the organizers used to call a prize draw (and by no means a lottery), is now officially called "awarding the winners." How exactly this award will be organized technologically is still unknown. According to the representative of the festival, the technology is still being finalized. Apparently, the organizers are looking for the most legal form of giving valuable gifts to residents, since the law “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of Citizens Russian Federation” states that “during the period of the election campaign, referendum campaign, it is not allowed to conduct lotteries and other risk-based games in which the winning of prizes or participation in the prize draw depends on the results of voting, the results of elections, a referendum, or which are otherwise related to elections, a referendum ". According to the site's source, everything will be organized in accordance with the law, since the elections are not formally connected with the festival.

It is known that in any way only residents of those 20 municipalities that participate in the festival will be able to take part in the action and, in theory, win an apartment or a car, it takes place in Aramil, Artemovsky, Asbest, Berezovsky, Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Verkhnyaya Salda, Irbit, Kamensk -Uralsky, Kachkanar, Krasnoturinsk, Lesnoy, Nevyansk, Nizhny Tagil, Novouralsk, Pervouralsk, Polevskoy, Revda, Rare, Sysert and Serov. Residents of Yekaterinburg, for example, will not be able to travel to a neighboring city to participate in the action.

It is not yet known exactly how much money went into the fund to buy prizes - the organizers say they cannot give an exact figure, because the funds continue to flow into the fund. Earlier, the sources of the site reported that the purchase of prizes and the organization of the event would cost 100 million rubles. Elena Streletskaya, a member of the festival's coordinating council for public relations, told the site that the list of gifts will include 15 apartments, 130 Lada Grant cars in black and white as standard, as well as 710,000 valuable gifts and souvenirs, including household goods. appliances such as vacuum cleaners and microwaves.

On the official website of Ural Gems, a chain of stores is listed as partners household appliances"Nord", a network of car dealerships and technology centers "Avtovek", a client advertising agency "Master's Handwriting" and several regional publications. Avtovek is the official dealer of Lada cars in Yekaterinburg. The cost of the cheapest Lada Grant on the company's website is 330 thousand rubles, so 130 cars will cost 42.9 million rubles. In the cities where the festival takes place, inexpensive one-room apartments on the website of the Ural Chamber of Real Estate cost from 450 thousand rubles (Dir) to 1.3 million rubles (Nizhny Tagil). It can be assumed that 15 apartments will cost about 15 million rubles (with a margin) .. rubles apiece. Equipment will probably be purchased in Nord stores, their branches are in most cities of the region.

As the site wrote earlier, the goal of the entire Ural Gems festival, as well as a large prize fund, is to increase turnout in the elections for the governor of the Sverdlovsk region. At the same time, the festival is not actively advertised yet. The organizers only placed a few dozen banners around the region informing about the Ural Gems.

In the near future, the fund is going to issue a circulation of the newspaper in Nizhny Tagil, Kamensk-Uralsky and other territories. They will tell in detail about the action, about where you can come for prizes, where the award centers will be located. On the Ural Gems YouTube page, there is one 15-second video that talks about prize fund festival. It looks like an ad that will be used either on YouTube before videos for a targeted audience, or on television. So far, the organizers cannot say where this video will be played.

The main work of the Ural Gems is holding events in cities. In the social networks of the festival almost every day there are reports of folk festivals, concerts and other events for local residents. In Nevyansk, for example, the Day of the Nevyansk Tower was held, in Novouralsk - an exhibition of flowers and achievements of retired gardeners, at which there was a speech by the deputy head of the city and a concert "Melodies of Summer", in Revda - a sports festival, in Sysert - a review of folk talents. Starting this week, at such events, residents will be told about the action on September 10th.

According to political technologist Aleksey Schweigert, the festival is just a form to cover up the “operation to mobilize voters,” and such political techniques do not need special advertising. “It is important how effective the work on advertising the turnout at the polling stations will be carried out, how it will be possible to convince people to come to vote. This will not only be a motivation to go to the polls in order to win a prize, other tools will be imposed on it, for example, a binding. It is important how motivators work locally, for example, whether there will be tear-off coupons from the draw that will have to be presented at the enterprise,” the expert says. So far, according to him, in the Sverdlovsk region, they are not going to use the technology with reporting on lottery tickets, collected phones or addresses, which, according to Schweigert, is rather bad for the festival. “Voters can understand that this is a weak tool, and if they don’t see control, they won’t come to the polls. Either the wrong one is being mobilized the target audience', says Schweigert.

As the site knows, the action with the drawing of prizes was supported at the federal level, despite the remarks of the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, that the organizers need to be as careful as possible. So far, the only political incident with the Ural Gems has taken place in Sysert: a tea party with pensioners was held in a local cafe, United Russia candidates Sergei Konovalov and self-nominated Ilya Tugbaev took part in it. Communist MP Mikhail Keselman called the police, as he considered the ongoing tea party to be bribing voters. When the outfit arrived, festival officials said they invited the candidates because they like them, local communist MP Mikhail Keselman told the site. A protocol was drawn up under Article 5.10. Administrative Code "Conducting pre-election campaigning, campaigning on referendum issues outside the campaign period and in places where its conduct is prohibited by the legislation on elections and referendums."

A member of the organizing committee of the festival, Elena Streletskaya, said that she was not aware of this situation, but stated that there could be no complaints about the festival, since this was a non-political action. “The festival is not connected with the election campaign and with any of the candidates, we abstract from it as much as possible. Maybe the candidates themselves tried to use the festival site. I do not exclude the desire of deputies to promote themselves. We have everything within the law,” said the representative of the festival.

The official purpose of the event is “to give an opportunity to express themselves talented people to acquaint fellow countrymen with their creative and sporting achievements”. The organizing committee emphasizes that the festival will not end on September 10, but will continue until October 10. After the selection, the fund will not be disbanded, but will be engaged in other projects.

“The fund was established by the Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The festival is the first and most significant action that the Foundation and UTTP hold. After its completion, we will select and support others people need projects. I think it's great when business is engaged in such initiatives,” said Elena Streletskaya.

It so happened that the dates of the final of the festival coincided with the date of the election of the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, and the information about the addresses of the centers for issuing prizes and the addresses of polling stations is practically duplicated.

Here is the call to come with a passport and try your luck in the prize draw:

"The start of the most anticipated and intriguing action of the Ural Gems folk festival has been given, and you are its participants! Come with the whole family on September 10 to the award center near your home. It is very easy to find out exactly where your center is located. Addresses of the award centers and a list streets included in the coverage area of ​​the centers are listed in the "Award Centers" section. Enter the section, click your city, find in the list of sectors your address where you are registered according to your personal passport data, - and you will understand where the gift from the organizers of the festival "Ural Gems" awaits you. Grab your passport - and forward to your awards center. In the center, fill out the form, select a certificate and receive a gift."

As for the addresses, here, for example, is the address of one of the award centers in Pervouralsk...

On the general telephone number of the information center, the operator explained that they can only guide a person at what address to apply for prizes, and citizens ask several dozen such questions a day. According to the operator, people are not at all embarrassed that they can vote and receive prizes, in fact, in one place.

Spokesman for the Fund's Coordinating Committee Elena Streletskaya, having learned that the addresses of the polling stations and the centers for the distribution of prizes are the same, explained that, perhaps, in some small settlements, sometimes, there is only one place for elections and celebrations. Therefore, the address is the same, but the premises are different.

In addition, the spokeswoman explained that this is not against the law, the main thing is that the rooms are different. With regard specifically to Pervouralsk, where in both cases it is directly indicated: "premises" ("the premises of the administration of the Western Administrative District"), then this is a "terminology issue."

"The premises must be different according to the law, it is forbidden to hold any actions at the polling stations," Streletskaya said. "In any case, they will vote, for example, in the library, and the award center will be located in the gym of the same building."

A member of the Board of Trustees of Ural Gems, who is assigned, among other things, the functions of compliance with the current legislation by the organization, an ex-deputy of the City Duma of Yekaterinburg Nafika Famieva to hear a comment regarding matches not only addresses, but also "assigned" to the places of residence of citizens, failed, he dropped phone call. sent the same question to the Electoral Commission of the Sverdlovsk Region, where they promised a prompt response.

It should be reminded that 15 apartments, 130 Lada Granta cars, 710,000 gifts and souvenirs will be raffled off as part of the Ural Gems campaign, which will be held in a number of cities in the Sverdlovsk region on election day, September 10. At the same time, Yekaterinburg was not included in the list of cities where the lottery will be held, so many residents of the Ural capital enjoy the right to vote "at their location" and go to neighboring cities out of mercantile interest.

Free lottery for voters in the Urals. The prize drawing will be held on September 10, the single day of voting. According to experts, there is a violation of the electoral law

The organizers of the Ural Gems festival were suspected of bribing voters. During the festival, the final day of which will coincide with the single day of voting, on September 10, when the governor of the Sverdlovsk region will be elected, numerous valuable prizes will be raffled off. Moreover, the lottery for participants will be free. CEC representative Ella Pamfilova has already promised to look into this situation.
Official lottery - clean water charity. Her task is to improve the mood of the inhabitants. And this is done at the expense of business, says Maria Plyusnina, a correspondent for the Yekaterinburg online newspaper Znak.com.

Maria Plyusnina
Correspondent of the Yekaterinburg online newspaper Znak.com

“The Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry has established an appropriate charitable foundation. Officially, of course, they do not say that this was done to increase turnout. Well, it's such a holiday for the whole region. This lottery was invented in order to increase the turnout in elections. It seems to me that this is due to the fact that the gubernatorial campaign is not very competitive. And interest in the elections on the part of voters is not too high. It will cover all major cities: Nizhny Tagil, Kamensk-Uralsky, Pervouralsk, but it will not be held in Yekaterinburg. They say that in Yekaterinburg there is no task to increase turnout, because it is unpredictable how the city will vote. Yekaterinburg traditionally has the largest number of election observers, and, accordingly, they may see this as a violation, which is disadvantageous for the authorities.”

There is no doubt that there is a violation of the electoral law here. But it is not certain that the CEC will be able to defend this point of view, says Arkady Lyubarev, a member of the working group of the Presidential Council on Citizens' Electoral Rights.

Arkady Lyubarev
member of the working group of the presidential council on the electoral rights of citizens

“Initially, this was done against covert bribery, when people bet on a certain candidate and, accordingly, they are thereby stimulated to vote for this candidate. Therefore, when a lottery is done to increase turnout, it has become generally accepted that it is not prohibited by law, although the law is interpreted more broadly. That is, no lotteries related to elections should be held at all. Let's see how the CEC will react, because, indeed, this is a moot point.”

The locations of the festival lottery prize draws, by a strange coincidence, usually coincide with the addresses of the polling stations. The URA.ru portal reports that the gift fund, which the Ural business has decided to create to raise the mood of fellow countrymen, will include at least ten apartments, 130 cars, tens of thousands of household appliances and hundreds of thousands of souvenirs.