Election webcams are an excellent technical tool that allows you to make observation of the voting and counting process more transparent. The need for such devices arose due to the large number of voter outrage, who believed that most of the elections in Russia were conducted dishonestly.
For the first time, such technology as video surveillance was tested in Russia during the elections in March 2012 at the presidential elections in the Russian Federation. The proposal to install cameras at the sites was announced by Vladimir Putin himself in the course of his traditional straight line. Then it was proposed to put cameras on all 90,000 sites that exist in different cities of the country.
Cameras should work on election day around the clock and should be positioned at the polling station so that the area of the ballot box into which ballots are dropped is clearly visible.
How and why cameras were installed on sites
Cameras began to be installed because of accusations made by the opposition against the election commissions. Then it was asserted that there were ballot stuffing, "carousels" and other "black" political technologies. To eliminate such problems, cameras were installed at the sites.
Despite the fact that the installation of the cameras cost 20 billion rubles, this money was well spent. After all, the presidential elections, which were held with the use of video filming, were calmer and more disciplined.
Two cameras are placed at each site: one shoots a general plan, the second - an urn. Video filming is carried out from them in high enough quality so that you can clearly see all the details and exclude falsifications.
In terms of broadcast quality, the screen enlargement was slightly reduced to keep the system under load when everyone started watching.
Experts have calculated that simultaneous viewing of video from polling stations can be carried out simultaneously by 25 million people, and from one camera it is possible to broadcast for 60 thousand observers. 7 data centers are used to service cameras at all polling stations.
To observe the elections, a special site was created, which does not work at other times. To observe the elections, on Election Day you need to register on the election website, and you can connect to the observation system.
Camera efficiency
The effectiveness of the cameras has already been proven in the first elections in which they were used. Minor violations were recorded, which were quite insignificant, and the election commission did not even begin to recognize them. The observers, however, did not mind, since we saw with our own eyes that the elections are fair.
Since everything went smoothly and the observers were satisfied, it was decided to leave the cameras and use them in the future.
