Is Everything under Control? The Impact of Early Voting and Voting by Absentee Ballots on the Result of United Russia: Evidence from Russia's Regional Legislative Elections 2014-2015

This work is devoted to the analysis of the impact of early voting and absentee ballots on the result of the United Russia party. These additional conditions of the voting process were distributed in Russia during 2014-2015. By the broker-mediated theory and the concept of “political machines”, early voting and voting on absentee ballots are considered as part of the conditions that help clientelism intermediaries in Russia to mobilize the electorate. Primary attention is paid to the role of an employer as the main intermediary and the concept of “controlled voting” as the main method of mobilization with the possibilities of applying these additional voting conditions. Based on the results of the analysis, a conclusion is drawn on the stable effect of early voting on United Russia’s results in the regional parliamentary elections in Russia.