One of the main problems with three-day voting is the security of the ballots that voters have already cast and that remain overnight in the premises of polling stations.
Paradox: observers and voters are most worried that the security and integrity of the safe-packets and safes where the ballots are stored will be violated by those who are primarily called upon to guarantee their integrity — members of election commissions. They fear that PEC members will open the safe-packets and swap ballots or add extra ones to the safe-packets.
And it must be said that observers have reason to be afraid. Once again, cases of strange nighttime actions at polling stations have been identified in various regions. Candidates and observers keep watch near polling stations at night, peer through windows, record nighttime movements of commission members and outsiders at the stations, and in the morning find altered seals, tampered fastenings, forged signatures, and extra ballots. PEC members, for their part, hide from the eyes of observers, refuse to let them examine records and voter lists, and threaten to call the police. In short, the special electoral operation and the struggle for fair elections continue around the clock.
In St. Petersburg, a candidate for the State Duma and the Legislative Assembly from A Just Russia and the current head of the municipal district of Avtovo noticed via video cameras that members of precinct commission No. 607 were doing something after the station closed, and then the cameras switched off. After that, he called the police and went to the station himself: "We arrived at the same time — the commission members were just leaving, and as a result, some of them were taken to the police station," he told Fontanka. On the first day, observers from A Just Russia were on duty at this station, and turnout was 14% or about 200 people — but according to the results of the second day, the records showed 500 people. This raised doubts for the candidate and drew attention to the station.
In the same St. Petersburg, after the stations closed in a school housing PECs No. 1757 and 1758, members of the election commissions remained inside. In a video provided to RusNews, several people can be seen in the gymnasium, which is used as a voting room. According to the author of the recording, the lights in the room went out around 23:30, but people remained inside after that.
At station No. 60 in the Admiralteisky District of the same St. Petersburg, observers counted a turnout 100 people lower than the commission chair announced (that is 20% of the votes). Observers were not allowed to sign the safe-packets before they were placed in the safe. In the morning, observers from Yabloko compared photographs of the seals on the safes and found that the stamp and the paper of the seal itself were already different.
In Perm, CPRF candidate for the regional Legislative Assembly Vasily Belkin noticed that members of PEC No. 3212 remained in the voting room after the station closed. Through the window, he filmed a video showing women in blue gloves sitting at tables working with commission documents and, apparently, with voter lists. The safe, which should have contained sealed ballots at that time, was open. A police officer was also in the room, talking to someone on the phone. When a police squad arrived at the scene, they did not enter the PEC premises. To all of Belkin's questions, the police officer only replied: "No comment right now." The CPRF candidate also notes that the commission premises are located directly in the building that houses the current reception office of United Russia deputy and candidate for the regional Legislative Assembly Nikolai Bulatov.
In Nizhny Novgorod, near PEC No. 2353 late in the evening of 19 September, unknown young men of athletic build lay in wait for an observer from Yabloko when he briefly left the station. They accused him of making insults and for about half an hour would not let him back into the station. During this time, according to the observer's estimate, the number of supposedly cast votes increased noticeably.
In the Moscow region, after the announcement that voting had ended, the chair of PEC No. 357 in Dolgoprudny, Yelena Cherednik, asked everyone except commission members and observers to leave the premises. She told journalists that the necessary documents would be given to them in the morning, and threatened to call the police to remove the journalists: "We will draw up a report in any case, to the police. You will be removed from here in any case. You have violated the law when [the station's] work is finished. You are outsiders. Regardless of whether you are accredited media or not, you cannot be here," Cherednik said. After that, the journalists left.
In the same Dolgoprudny, at PEC No. 4201, a commission member suspects that a ballot stuffing occurred at the station overnight. He noticed that the ballots in the same ballot box were lying differently. He compared photographs taken on the evening of 19 September and the morning of the 20th. He asked to see the voter lists but was refused. The chair and other commission members say that he is "not entitled" to work with the voter registers and that he is interfering with the work of the PEC; they threaten to draw up a report and contact the police. A TEC member who arrived at the station was also not allowed to examine the voter lists.
At polling station No. 2059 in Krasnodar, on the night of 20 September, the safe containing ballots already used for voting was opened. As reported by observers in the Telegram channel "TIK Zapadnaya Voting 2026," unknown intruders had attached a seal with a poorly forged signature. The police were called.
Damage to the seal on the safe with ballots was also reported from polling station No. 302 in the Amur region.
In the Kirov region, the video feed from cameras at more than 400 stations disappeared for several hours overnight. This was reported by the head of the regional branch of the CPRF, Sergei Mamayev. According to him, the online broadcast stopped at midnight, from 19 to 20 September. It was down for several hours. There are no official explanations for the cause of the failure. Mamayev sent an official request to the regional election commission demanding an explanation of why the broadcast was interrupted.