Management of Electoral Innovations in the Context of Digitalization (The Case of Remote Electronic Voting in Russia)
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This article presents the results of an interdisciplinary study of how electoral innovations are managed in the context of the digital transformation of society. The study is highly relevant because electoral processes need to be adapted to changing social realities, where mistakes in implementing innovations can undermine public trust in state institutions. Methodologically, the research study employs a comprehensive approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative method draws on 13 in-depth expert interviews with representatives of electoral commissions, public authorities, NGOs, and the academic community; the quantitative method relies on a survey (n = 3,000) conducted in Moscow, a pioneering region in innovative electoral technologies. The study yields three main findings. First, remote electronic voting, identified by experts as the most important electoral innovation, does not resolve but rather reproduces the already existing crisis of institutional trust among some people. Its public perceptions are driven by citizens’ broader political orientations rather than system’s technical characteristics or convenience: loyal voters view it as a useful service, whereas more critical citizens see it as a tool of manipulation. Second, younger respondents, the most competent in digital technologies social group, for whom remote voting was supposed to be a natural extension of everyday technosocial life, exhibit the greatest skepticism toward this mechanism, while older cohorts tend to actively support it. Third, Russia has developed a resilient “trap of institutional distrust”: top-down initiatives are viewed with suspicion by certain segments of society, and their aggressive rollout only deepens delegitimization. Overall, the author concludes that rebuilding trust in electoral innovations depends on transforming the management approach rather than on improving technologies themselves. Transformation implies moving away from the logic of innovations “from above” to co-managing them in partnership with civil society institutions.
Author: I. A. Lavrov
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7166338399
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