Early voting

A voter with a legitimate reason may apply to the Territorial Election Commission  (TEC) to vote prior to the date of the elections. Early voting is typically carried out at the TEC. After collecting applications for early voting, the TEC updates voter lists and forwards this information to the respective polling stations. Those who have voted early must be noted in the voter lists at the polling stations to avoid double voting. The ballots of each voter who voted early are packed in a special non-transparent sealed envelope and stored until election day with the TEC secretary.

On the election day, before opening the polling station, the TEC chair places the early voting ballots in the ballot box. Suppose the number of early voting ballots exceeds the threshold of 1% of all the voters at the polling station. In that case, early voting ballots can be counted separately at the request of a commission member or observer.

Since it is difficult to control the procedure of early voting, electoral manipulations in different forms can take place. In the Russian presidential elections 2024, early voting was widespread in the so-called "new territories", i.e. the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia. These territories were categorized as "hard-to-reach" due to the ongoing hostilities, allowing early voting to be held there.