Mop up: Ballot-stuffing videos taint Russian election

By DARIA LITVINOVA
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Videos have emerged from three days of voting in Russia’s parliamentary election showing ballot-box stuffing in various locations across the vast country. In one surveillance video, a hand appears from behind a Russian flag to stuff ballots into a box at a polling place in the Siberian region of Kemerovo. In another, a woman in Bryansk is seen removing ballot papers from under her clothes and putting them in a ballot box with the help of another woman. Surveillance cameras also were blocked at polling stations in St. Petersburg and in the southern town of Pyatigorsk. Authorities say over 25,000 ballots were invalidated but maintain there were fewer violations in this election than in the one in 2016.