Press Release, 20.12.2018

Boris Vishnevsky, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, offeres to provide an opportunity to vote with a facsimile signature to people who can not sign for receiving the ballot and put a mark in it. Vishnevsky submitted the corresponding amendments to the federal electoral law to the Russian Parliament (the State Duma).

According to Boris Vishnevsky, at present there is a direct violation of the constitutional rights of people who, due to their state of health, cannot sign.

“If a voter cannot sign, then what? And if he/she has no hands at all? This is not a reason to incapacitate such a person of the voting right. It is necessary to change the law. I hope my colleagues [in the Russian parliament] will support our bill,” head of the Yabloko faction in the St.Petersburg parliament said.

Vishnevsky notes that the provisional name of the bill is “The Law of Ivan Bakaidov”. Ivan Bakaidov is an IT specialist in St.Petersburg, a Paralympic athlete, author of several computer programmes that allow people with physical restrictions to communicate. Bakaidov has been promoting the introduction of a facsimile signature for five years. More than 320,000 people supported the online petition of the activist “Stop infringing upon the rights of people who can not sign!”

Photo: (from left to right) Yulia Vasilchikova, Ivan Bakaidov and Boris Vishnevsky

We should note here that a facsimile signature (facsimile) is a facsimile reproduction of a signature using mechanical or other copying tools, replacing the signature of a person who, due to his state of health, is unable to independently produce a handwritten signature (blurred vision, lack of a limb, poor coordination of movements, paralysis).

According to Article 104 of the Constitution, the legislative (representative) bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have the right to submit a legislative initiative for consideration by the State Duma.