Problems of Ensuring Active Electoral Rights of Citizens with Disabilities in the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation

The aim of the article is to conduct a study of the institution of ensuring active electoral rights of citizens with disabilities in order to identify ways of its development through the transformation of legal norms, improving the system of intersectoral interaction and identifying best practices to assist the limited mobility category of voters in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The stated aim was achieved by solving the following interrelated tasks: problems of law enforcement were revealed when informing voters with disabilities, as well as when exercising their right to vote in the premises of the precinct electoral commission on a par with other voters; the best practices of electoral commissions and other entities that contribute to the execution of electoral rights of citizens with disabilities were identified (executive authorities, volunteer organisations and non-profit organisations representing the interests of persons with disabilities); the main vectors of development of the institution of ensuring the electoral right of citizens with disabilities were determined. In the writing of this article, the following methods were used: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison, analogy, and modelling. As a result of the study, the following results were obtained. (1) Ensuring the electoral rights of citizens with disabilities in the Russian Federation is a comprehensive legal institution consisting of the rules of electoral law and the rules governing the legal status of persons with disabilities. In view of this, the increase in electoral activity of this category of voters is largely due to the achievements in the field of the organisation of a barrier-free environment and a decrease in their social isolation. (2) The key aspect of ensuring the active electoral rights of citizens with disabilities is the intersectoral interaction of electoral commissions with government bodies (local authorities) and civil society actors. Thus, the executive authorities have organisational legal, financial and information resources for the formation of an accessible environment of socially significant facilities, and non-profit organisations provide targeted assistance to voters with disabilities in the exercising of their right to vote. (3) The discriminatory practice of exercising the norms of Article 66 of the Federal Law No. 67-FZ in the absence of a barrier-free environment makes it necessary to bring the establishment of electoral legislation in accordance with the needs of various categories of voters to ensure their ability to vote in the premises of precinct electoral commissions on a par with other voters.

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