Empirical study of factors of public trust in innovations in the electoral process in Russia

Annotation

This article examines aspects of developing trust in electoral innovations, particularly technological innovations, which influences trust in public policy governing electoral innovations overall. Russian and international researchers have similar approaches in assessing the factors that hinder trust in innovations and elections, but they have not yet proposed models for shaping electoral participants' trust in innovations. Theories of innovation diffusion, convergence, political communication, and opinion dynamics constitute a methodological framework for studying the issue of trust in innovations. A review of the most significant technological electoral innovations currently being used in the Russian electoral process is provided. Based on an expert survey, a set of factors has been identified that can be interpreted as elements of a system of trust in innovations. The key issues behind distrust of electoral innovations include absenteeism, a lack of understanding of the innovation, insufficient digital literacy among participants, inadequate infrastructure within the electoral system, and persistent stereotypes that facilitate the spread of speculation. Current efforts to clarify the institutional characteristics of innovations are not fully addressing the need to ensure trust in innovations in the Russian electoral process. The article argues for the need to refine the communication strategies of election administration bodies, specifically the revival of expert councils within electoral commissions and a revised approach to expert pool formation. A number of recommendatory proposals are put forward, the implementation of which could be useful in increasing trust in elections and electoral innovations in Russia. Further research on the diffusion of innovations may involve analyzing the spread of technological innovations as the most pressing trend in a digital society.

Keywords

• electoral innovations
• innovation management policy
• innovation diffusion
• trust
• remote electronic voting
• electoral technologies
• civic political culture
• expert survey
• Central Election Commission of Russia
• electoral sovereignty
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Acknowledgments

the research was carried out at the RSUH at the expense of the grant from the Russian Science Fundation as part of a scientific project No. 24-28-01061 “Innovation Management in state electoral policy”, https://rscf.ru/project/24-28-01061.

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