secret ballot

Development of Electoral Legislation on Secret Ballot in Pre-Revolutionary and Soviet Russia

Introduction. The electoral legislation of the Russian state at various stages of its development enshrines the open or secret ballot in elections to bodies of state authority and local self-government. Purpose. The main purpose is to analyze the development of the electoral legislation of the secret ballot in pre-revolutionary Russia and throughout the Soviet period. Results. Legal consolidation of the principle of the secret ballot took place in pre-revolutionary Russia. During the first decade of the Soviet power voting was conducted openly, even in the case of an alternate consolidation of the secret ballot in the legal acts which regulated the conduct of elections to the councils. Further development of the secret ballot in the Soviet Russia is characterized by progressive democratic legislation and politicized practice of its implementation. Implementation of the secret ballot in the election practice of the USSR began in the last years of perestroika. Conclusion. The author suggests a periodization of the main stages of the development of electoral legislation on secret ballot in pre-revolutionary Russia and throughout the Soviet period.

Content of Secret Ballot as a Kind of Legal Regime of Information in the Russian State

The study of the content of secret ballot is impossible without a definition of «the secret ballot». The general legal concept of «secret» is not fixed in the legislation of the Russian Federation, and therefore, there are two basic approaches to this concept in the legal literature: a secret as information and a secret as the legal regime of information. Purpose. The main purpose consists in analyzing the secret ballot as the legal regime of information. Results. In the absence of legislative recognition of the concept of the legal regime of information the author has analyzed the concept of «information» and «legal regime» for the research objectives. On the basis of the analysis of the main elements of the legal regime of information the author claims that they are all inherent in the secret ballot. Conclusion. The author makes some conclusions about the content of the secret ballot, and determines the value of undisclosed information.