Abstract
This paper explores the phenomenon of e-voting, in particular, new i-voting technologies, within the context of hybrid and authoritarian political regimes. While e-voting and i-voting are not particularly widespread, more and more illiberal countries are implementing these innovations, which has been overlooked in the academia so far. The paper attempts to fill in this gap. Firstly, we provide a general overview of the problem and identify the key features of non-democracies adopting e-voting and i-voting. Secondly, we explore the case of Russia, a hybrid regime, which may become a role model for other countries in the near future. The research exposes the potential of e-voting, and in particular, i-voting as a tool for the regime stability and provides some avenues of the future research.
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Notes
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Krivonosova I.: E-voting in Moscow: A Gratuitous Gimmick—RIDDLE. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2020, from https://www.ridl.io/en/e-voting-in-moscow-a-gratuitous-gimmick/.
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Krivonosova I.: E-voting in Moscow: A Gratuitous Gimmick—RIDDLE. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2020, from https://www.ridl.io/en/e-voting-in-moscow-a-gratuitous-gimmick/.
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V Gosdumu Vnesli Zakonoproekt o Testiro-vanii Elektronnogo Golosovaniya v Moskve – Vedomosti. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2020, from https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/2019/02/26/795201-elektronnogo-golosovaniya.
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Moskvichi s 3 po 9 iyunya smogut vybrat' okruga dlya provedeniya elektronnogo goloso-vaniya—Moskva—TASS. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2020, from https://tass.ru/moskva/6489105.
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Cel' eksperimenta po vnedreniyu distancionnogo elektronnogo golosovaniya na vy-borah v Mosgordumu – sozdat' dlya moskvichej dopolnitel'nye vozmozhnosti realiza-cii aktivnogo izbiratel'nogo prava. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2020, from https://duma.mos.ru/ru/34/news/novosti/tsel-eksperimenta-po-vnedreniyu-distantsionnogo-elektronnogo-golosovaniya-na-vyiborah-v-mosgordumu-sozdat-dlya-moskvichey-dopolnitelnyie-vozmojnosti-realizatsii-aktivnogo-izbiratelnogo-prava.
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A. Shaposhnikov: Elektronnoe golosovanie pozvolit kolossal'no podnyat' yavku na vyborah deputatov Mosgordumy—Agentstvo gorodskih novostej «Moskva»—Informacionnoe agentstvo. (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2020, from https://www.mskagency.ru/materials/2884983.
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Dnevnoj fal'sifikat. Dmitrij Oreshkin ob"yasnyaet, kak vvedenie elektronnogo go-losovaniya pomozhet vlastyam vyigriyvat' vybory. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2020, from https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/05/14/85376-dnevnoy-falsifikat.
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«Okej, golosujte bumazhno» Aleksej Venediktov otvetil na kritiku internet-vyborov v Mosgordumu. My poprosili ekspertov proverit' ego zayavleniya—Meduza. (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2020, from https://meduza.io/feature/2019/07/01/okey-golosuyte-bumazhno.
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«Edinaya Rossiya» ne vydvinula ni odnogo kandidata v Mosgordumu No frakciya edi-norosov v stolichnom parlamente vse ravno budet —Meduza. (n.d.). Retrieved June 8, 2020, from https://meduza.io/feature/2019/06/13/edinaya-rossiya-ne-vydvinula-ni-odnogo-kandidata-v-mosgordumu.
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Meriya Obeshchala Prozrachnoe Internet-Golosovanie v Moskve. V Itoge Ona Mozhet Opublikovat' Lyubye Rezul'ta-ty, i Proverit' Ih Nikto Ne Smozhet — Meduza. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2020, from https://meduza.io/feature/2019/09/06/meriya-obeschala-prozrachnoe-internet-golosovanie-v-moskve-v-itoge-ona-mozhet-opublikovat-lyubye-rezultaty-i-proverit-ih-nikto-ne-smozhet.
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Federal'nyj zakon ot 23 maya 2020 g. N 152-FZ “O provedenii eksperimenta po organizacii i osushchestvleniyu distancionnogo elektronnogo golosovaniya v gorode federal'nogo znacheniya Moskve”—Rossijskaya gazeta. (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2020, from https://rg.ru/2020/05/25/fz-o-golosovanii-v-moskve-dok.html.
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Romanov, B., Kabanov, Y. (2020). The Oxymoron of the Internet Voting in Illiberal and Hybrid Political Contexts. In: Krimmer, R., et al. Electronic Voting. E-Vote-ID 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12455. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60347-2_12
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