The CEC and regional election commissions have been informing the public with great enthusiasm over the past few days about how successfully the InformUIK project is being implemented, during which members of election commissions are canvassing voters and informing them about the upcoming elections and possible voting methods.
One of the working tools of election commission members wearing special uniforms is a special application for smartphones and tablets. In it, PEC members are supposed to conduct a survey of voters: it contains questions about their desire to participate in the elections and in what specific form (at the polling station, at home, or electronically) they plan to do so.
To work with this application, the Russian Centre for Training in Electoral Technologies under the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation (RCTET) has developed a very detailed instruction manual of 28 pages. It is called "User Guide for the InformUIK Mobile Application".
The annotation states: "This document contains a user guide for the InformUIK mobile application (Module F), intended for use on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) by representatives of precinct election commissions to carry out electoral actions during the preparation and conduct of elections of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (hereinafter — elections) for the purpose of informing voters."
The application is developed for the Android operating system. To work with this application, firstly, it is necessary to register in MAX — without this, PEC members cannot pass verification, obtain a login and password, and secondly, download the application (indicated as Module F) from RuStore by searching for the word "Teleform":
The application interface itself should look approximately like this:
As far as can be judged, the application is integrated with the GAS "Vybory" system, from which it loads information about voters. The completed questionnaire is sent to the digital service system "InformUIK".
Naturally, the question arises as to who, besides PEC members, has access to this system, and therefore can use the data on a specific voter's attitude towards the upcoming elections. Is this data leaking outside the electoral system? But at least it is clear whom to ask these questions, and it is evident that only information regarding the voter's intentions — to participate or not to participate in the voting — is being collected.
Meanwhile, it turns out that PEC members in a number of regions (we found several regions in different parts of the country) are using a somewhat different tool for canvassing voters — a certain "Module A", which both visually and substantively differs noticeably from "Module F", the use of which is described in the RCTET instruction manual.
To download this module on the official website of the InformUIK project https://inform-uik.ru/, you need to click the button for the corresponding operating system:
The application name "Module A" appears, in the annotation of which it is stated that it, among other things, allows "CONDUCTING INFORMATION AND SURVEYS • In the MP 'Module A', the 'Survey Constructor' is available, with the ability to set various types of questions and an arbitrary survey algorithm. • Automatic generation of Reports based on survey results online". The developer of the application is LLC "SOTSIALNYE TSIFROVYE PLATFORMY". While the "Module F" recommended by RCTET was developed by the company "Vesna-soft".
According to the information available to us, PEC members were told to use precisely this application, and not some other one. The fact that this is indeed the case may be evidenced by a question from a certain Marina to the application developers:
A certain Natalya also cannot load the lists of houses:
But, of course, the point is not that for some reason they decided to change one application for another at the last moment (although one must understand that quite considerable funds were spent on developing the first application), but that the questions asked to voters in the second application differ somewhat from those specified in the RCTET documents.
We have screenshots of this questionnaire.
It begins quite harmlessly:
The voter is asked whether they plan to participate in the voting and whether anyone will need a ballot box for voting at home. But then, in effect, a check of the voter for loyalty and reliability begins. Thus, they are asked whether they use the state messenger MAX:
But — most importantly — they are interested in their attitude towards the current authorities
Having received these answers, it will not be difficult for the customers of this questionnaire to determine whether a given voter will vote for the party in power and its candidates or is more likely to vote for its opposition. And then it can be decided whether such a person should be additionally "informed" about the elections and whether to try to reach them with a portable ballot box.
If we compare these two applications for PEC members, the impression is created that the second one, which, as we are assured, is what commission members are using, was created precisely for the last two questions, and not for informing voters and providing them with certain "electoral services", as in the first application. It obviously solves political technology tasks, into which ordinary election commission members have been drawn against their will. At the same time, in one of the regions, commission members reported that they initially skipped these questions of their own accord, but they received a call from the commission and were told that in that case they needed to go around the apartments a second time.
We would like to receive appropriate clarifications from the CEC and lower-level commissions. Especially since a corresponding statement has already been sent to the CEC of Russia by the Orenburg branch of the CPRF.