Golos is a “Russian organisation established in 2000 to protect the electoral rights of citizens and to foster civil society… It is the only election watchdog active in Russia that is independent of the Russian government.”
Golos volunteers have checked video footage recorded on the presidential election day in March 2018 at polling stations in one of the autonomous republics in the North Caucasus. These polling stations made up 24% of the total, and their registered voters, 26% of the total. The average turnout at these polling locations was officially reported at 91%, but the video recordings only show 34% of the registered voters entering and/or leaving the booths.
About a quarter of stations and of voters isn’t 100%, obviously, but is a large enough sample to support the thesis that the republic-wide turnout was nowhere near 92%, the official number. Earlier, Golos had reported miscounting or misreporting that affected 21% of the votes cast – based on the official turnout total, which now looks bloated by a factor of two and half. Is the Kremlin going to comment on this?