18 and over.
A citizen who has turned 18 by polling day. Citizens declared incapable by a court, or held in prison under a court sentence, may not vote (Constitution art. 32).
✶ Constitution art. 32 · Federal Law 20-FZ
Two ballots,
three days.
Every citizen aged 18 or over can vote, except people a court has declared incapable and people serving a prison sentence. There is nothing to register for: you are put on the list automatically. In a Duma election you get two ballots, and in 2026 you had three days to cast them.
Before voting
On the list
automatically.
Nothing to file.
The local administration keeps a register of every voter, based on the residence registration the state already holds (67-FZ art. 16). Before an election each voter is put on the list of the precinct covering their registered address (20-FZ art. 17 §2).
One list.
A voter can be on the list of only one precinct. Service members living on a military unit's grounds are listed there, those without registered residence can be added where they are staying, and lists may not be changed once counting starts (art. 17).
Step by step · At the polling station
From the door to the box.
What happens at a precinct (UIK) on each of the voting days, under 20-FZ art. 81.
Step 1 of 5 · Before voting
Find your precinct
You are already on the list at the precinct covering your registered address. Commissions must announce the place and hours of voting at least ten days ahead (20-FZ art. 81 §2).
Step 2 of 5 · Precinct commission
Show your passport
Polling stations open from 8:00 to 20:00 local time (art. 81 §1). A commission member finds you on the list; you show your passport or a document that replaces it.
Step 3 of 5 · Voter list
Sign for two ballots
You write your passport series and number in the list and sign for each ballot: one for the federal party-list vote and one for your single-member district (art. 81 §6–7).
Step 4 of 5 · Voting booth
Mark them in private
Fill in the ballots in a booth where no one else may be present. Any sign in one box counts. If you make a mistake, ask the member who issued the ballot for a new one (art. 81 §8–11).
Step 5 of 5 · Ballot box
Into the box
Drop both ballots into the sealed stationary box (art. 81 §12). After the last day of voting the precinct commission counts them, portable boxes first (art. 85 §14).
The 2026 ballots
Two papers,
two different races.
The federal ballot elects half the Duma by party list; 10 parties were on it in 2026. The district ballot elects your local deputy, by whoever gets the most votes.
Try it · Mark the ballots
One for a party, one for a person.
Put a mark in a box. Any sign counts; a ballot with no mark, or with marks in more than one box, is invalid.
Federal electoral district · party lists
Избирательный бюллетень
Vote for one federal list of candidates
- 1 Единая Россия United Russia
- 2 Зелёные The Greens
- 3 Коммунисты России Communists of Russia
- 4 КПРФ Communist Party
- 5 ЛДПР LDPR
- 6 Новые люди New People
- 7 Партия пенсионеров Party of Pensioners
- 8 Партия прямой демократии Party of Direct Democracy
- 9 Родина Rodina
- 10 Справедливая Россия – За правду A Just Russia – For Truth
Single-member district · candidates
Избирательный бюллетень
Vote for one candidate, listed alphabetically
- 1 Candidate A Nominated by a party
- 2 Candidate B Nominated by a party
- 3 Candidate C Self-nominated
- 4 Candidate D Nominated by a party
Lists here are in Russian alphabetical order; on the real ballot their order is drawn by lot and the ballot may carry each party's emblem in one colour, the names of its federal leaders and of the first three candidates of the voter's regional group (20-FZ art. 79 §5). The placeholder lines stand for those names.
What counts
No mark,
two marks.
A ballot is invalid if it has no mark in any box, or marks in more than one. Doubtful ballots are set aside and the precinct commission votes on each, writing its decision on the back (20-FZ art. 85 §17).
There is no "against all" box. It was abolished in 2006, and the 2007 Duma election was the first without it (Wikipedia).
913,571 Invalid party-list ballots, 2026
1.36% of the 67,202,227 ballots found in the boxes. They count in the base for the 5% threshold, so they lower every party's share.
CEC protocol via Wikipedia ↗Ways to vote
Not only
at the precinct.
- Three days 18–20 September 2026
The CEC may spread Duma voting over up to three consecutive days, deciding within ten days of the election being called. Counting begins only after the last day closes. On those days it may also allow voting in yards and other public places, and by groups of voters in remote settlements.
20-FZ art. 80.1 ↗ - Early voting Remote places, ships, polar stations
Regional commissions may let whole precincts in hard-to-reach or remote areas, on ships at sea or at polar stations vote early, up to 20 days before polling day. In 2026 early voting began on 28 August in occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast and soon after in Luhansk and Donetsk.
20-FZ art. 82 §1 ↗ - Home voting The box comes to you
A voter who cannot reach the station because of health, disability, caring for someone or another valid reason can ask, in writing or orally, within the ten days before voting and no later than six hours before it closes. Commission members bring a portable box; observers may go with them.
20-FZ art. 83 §1–2, 15 ↗ - Away from home Vote where you are
A voter who will be elsewhere can apply to vote at the precinct where they will be, from 45 days before voting until 14:00 the day before: in person with a passport, or through the state services portal (Gosuslugi) or a service centre where the CEC's procedure allows. They are then removed from the list at home.
20-FZ art. 17 §4.1 ↗ - Abroad At embassies and consulates
Citizens living abroad are added to a precinct list by written application, or orally on the day. Travellers abroad on private, business or tourist trips are added when they turn up with a passport. In 2026 early voting abroad began on 4 September at 14 polling stations in 6 countries, plus groups in 45 countries.
20-FZ art. 17 §4, §9; TASS and MK via ru.wikipedia ↗ - Help to vote Stencils and an assistant
Commissions may provide stencils, including in Braille, for blind and partially sighted voters. A voter who cannot sign or mark the ballot alone may ask another person to help, as long as that person is not a commission member, candidate, party representative or observer.
20-FZ art. 79 §3, art. 81 §10 ↗
ДЭГ · Дистанционное электронное голосование
Voting
online.
Remote electronic voting (DEG) is held only where the election commission decides; for federal elections that is the CEC, which also sets the procedure (67-FZ art. 64.1; 20-FZ art. 81 §17). Voters had to sign up in advance.
Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that public-sector employees were pressed to vote online (NGE, 21 Sep 2026).
Occupied Ukraine
Voting where
Russia's claim is not recognised.
2026 was the first Duma election held in the occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, under a 2025 district map that added districts there; Crimea and Sevastopol have voted since 2016. The EU called the results there inapplicable; Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the UK called them a sham. Official results there count toward Russia's totals, and this atlas labels them.