Electoral Precincts of Nizhny Novgorod Region — territorial units for organizing voting, established to conduct elections at all levels within the region and collectively covering all voters registered in the territory of the constituent entity. A precinct is unified for all elections held on its territory — for the State Duma, for the Regional Legislative Assembly, and for the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma [2]. In September 2026, the region had 2,174 permanent electoral precincts and three additional temporary ones, with 2,452,016 people entitled to vote at them [8][10]. The largest number of precincts is in the regional capital: the electoral precincts of Nizhny Novgorod are numbered 2177 through 2786 and are divided among nine territorial commissions across the city's eight districts; for the unified voting day of September 9, 2018, the regional electoral commission listed 518 precincts in Nizhny Novgorod [1]. To find out which precinct a specific address in Nizhny Novgorod belongs to, one can use the Gosuslugi portal, the Central Election Commission of Russia service, and the website of the Electoral Commission of Nizhny Novgorod Region, which operates within the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin [7][10][25].
How to find your electoral precinct in Nizhny Novgorod
- A Nizhny Novgorod resident can look up the address and number of their polling station in the "My Elections" section on the Gosuslugi portal, on the Central Electoral Commission of Russia service, and on the website of the Electoral Commission of Nizhny Novgorod Region [7][10].
- Written correspondence is accepted by the commission at: 603082, Nizhny Novgorod, Kremlin, Building 14; reception phone: (831) 416-23-11 [25].
- Polling station boundaries are defined by individual buildings and streets. The head of the local administration is required to publish lists of polling stations with their numbers, boundaries, locations of precinct commissions, and voting premises no later than 40 days before election day [2].
- Ahead of the 2026 elections, members of precinct commissions themselves went door to door: more than seven thousand canvassers took part in the "InformUIK" project from August 24 to September 2 [7].
- Voters may only go to their own polling station, but the voting location can be changed in advance — through the "Mobile Voter" mechanism via Gosuslugi or an MFC (multifunctional public services center) [7][8].
- Anyone who has submitted an application for remote electronic voting will not be issued a paper ballot at a polling station [7].
Any resident of Nizhny Novgorod Region can visit the official website of the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation or the website of the Electoral Commission of Nizhny Novgorod Region. All necessary information can be quickly found under the elections banner [7]
Polling stations in Nizhny Novgorod: how many there are and how they are divided
Nizhny Novgorod is divided into eight districts, but the city has nine territorial electoral commissions: Avtozavodsky District, due to its size, is split between the Northern and Southern commissions [15]. The remaining eight commissions each cover their own district — Kanavinsky, Leninsky, Moskovsky, Nizhegorodsky, Prioksky, Sovetsky, and Sormovsky.
Precinct numbering across the region is continuous and unified: a single numbering scheme was established by the Nizhny Novgorod Region Electoral Commission under Resolution No. 044/494-5 of 25 December 2012, which remains in force today as amended on 18 February 2026 [5]. Within this numbering, the city has been assigned numbers 2177 through 2786: precinct No. 2177 is in Avtozavodsky District on Lvovskaya Street, and precinct No. 2786 is in Sormovsky District [1].
Ahead of the unified voting day on 9 September 2018, the regional commission published a complete list of the city's precincts with their addresses and accessibility information. According to this list, Nizhny Novgorod had 518 electoral precincts, and Avtozavodsky District proved to be the city's largest, with 118 precincts — twice as many as Prioksky District [1].
The law makes a separate provision for the regional capital. Normally, a single precinct may not contain more than three thousand voters, but in an administrative center of a federal subject where the number of voters exceeds 500,000, precincts with larger populations are permitted — subject to agreement with the regional commission and subsequently with the Central Election Commission of Russia [2].
| City district and territorial commission | Stations | Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Avtozavodsky, Northern Commission | 58 | 2177–2234 |
| Avtozavodsky, Southern Commission | 60 | 2245–2305 |
| Kanavinsky | 66 | 2318–2383 |
| Leninsky | 62 | 2394–2455 |
| Moskovsky | 58 | 2469–2526 |
| Nizhegorodsky | 58 | 2537–2594 |
| Prioksky | 41 | 2605–2645 |
| Sovetsky | 56 | 2654–2709 |
| Sormovsky | 59 | 2721–2786 |
| Total for the city | 518 | 2177–2786 |
Where polling stations are located in the city
Polling station premises are selected for ease of access on foot, so in Nizhny Novgorod they are housed primarily in schools, as well as in colleges, universities, and cultural institutions. In the 2018 list, several stations shared a single school building: in Avtozavodsky District, stations No. 2177 and No. 2178 operated out of School No. 171 on Lvovskaya Street, while in Kanavinsky District four consecutive stations were located in School No. 109 on Yakornaya Street [1][4].
Hence the familiar sign of election season for Nizhny Novgorod families: if a polling station is placed in a school, classes are cancelled on Friday — and sometimes on the Monday after voting as well. Russia's Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov noted in 2026 that a school is entitled not to cancel the school day but to arrange supplementary activities for the children instead; the format is chosen by the school itself, based on the educational process and safety requirements [23].
Polling stations are also set up in university buildings: one of the Nizhny Novgorod stations equipped in 2026 with tactile markers for visually impaired voters was located in the building of the Higher School of Economics on Lvovskaya Street [11].
The Region's governor, Gleb Nikitin, also votes at his polling station in Nizhny Novgorod — in 2026 he came to the station on the first day of voting, 18 September [24].
How Polling Stations Are Established and Updated
The procedure is set out in Article 19 of Federal Law No. 67-FZ of 12 June 2002. Polling stations are established by the head of the local administration of a municipal or urban district in agreement with the territorial electoral commission, at a rate of no more than three thousand voters per station and taking local conditions into account — "proceeding from the need to create maximum convenience for voters" [2].
The list of polling stations and their boundaries are updated if a station has one hundred or fewer voters remaining, or if the number has exceeded three thousand, and also in order to bring a station's voter count up to one thousand five hundred. Such a decision is made outside an election campaign period, and in exceptional cases no later than 70 days before polling day. The boundaries of polling stations must not cross the boundaries of electoral districts [2].
The law separately addresses temporary polling stations — in hospitals, sanatoriums, rest homes, at railway stations, airports, and in places of detention for suspects and accused persons. These are established by the commission no later than 30 days before polling day, and in exceptional cases, with the agreement of a higher commission, no later than three days before [2]. In September 2026, there were three such stations in Nizhny Novgorod Region [10].
In Nizhny Novgorod, the network of polling stations was governed for more than twelve years by a city administration resolution of 25 December 2012, No. 5636, published in the newspaper Den Goroda. Nizhny Novgorod. It was amended more than thirty times — before almost every campaign, from the summer of 2013 through August 2024 [3]. By city administration resolution No. 5933 of 19 May 2025, the 2012 document was repealed [3], and in June 2026 the City Hall approved a new list of polling stations, unified for all elections and referendums held in the city [6].
Polling stations and referendum stations are established with due regard to local and other conditions, proceeding from the need to create maximum convenience for voters and referendum participants [2]
The Number of Polling Stations in the Region and How It Has Changed
The number of polling stations in the Nizhny Novgorod Region stays around two thousand two hundred, shifting by tens from one election to the next: stations are consolidated where the population has declined and added in new residential developments. For the State Duma and Regional Legislative Assembly elections in September 2021, the region operated 2,161 stations [20]; for the gubernatorial election in September 2023 — 2,188 [18]; for the September 2026 elections — 2,174 permanent and three temporary stations [8][10].
A unified numbering system introduced in 2012 makes it possible to identify a territory by its station number: numbers below 2177 belong to Dzerzhinsk, Kstovo, and other districts of the Region, while numbers from 2177 to 2786 belong to Nizhny Novgorod [1][5].
| Campaign | Voting days | Stations |
|---|---|---|
| State Duma, 8th convocation, and Legislative Assembly, 7th convocation | 17–19 September 2021 | 2,161 [20] |
| Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region | 8–10 September 2023 | 2,188 [18] |
| State Duma, 9th convocation, and Legislative Assembly, 8th convocation | 18–20 September 2026 | 2,174 permanent and 3 temporary [8][10] |
Station hours and voting methods
On voting days, polling stations open at 08:00 and close at 20:00 local time [20]. Since 2021, voting in the Region has been held over multiple days: in 2026, stations admitted voters on 18, 19, and 20 September, and on the first day proceedings opened with a performance of the Russian national anthem [9].
A voter who, due to health reasons, disability, or caring for a loved one, cannot come to the polling station in person is entitled to request home voting: they may contact the precinct commission in writing, by phone, through relatives or neighbors — on any day of voting, and on the final day no later than 14:00. Commission members will then visit the voter with a portable ballot box [8][21].
The third option is "Mobile Voter": submitting an application through the Gosuslugi portal or an MFC allows a person to vote at any convenient polling station rather than at their registered location [7][8]. The fourth option is remote electronic voting: applications were accepted from 3 August to 14 September 2026, with voting running from 08:00 on 18 September to 20:00 on 20 September [7].
Online voting noticeably reduces crowding at polling stations. In the 8 September 2023 elections, 125,531 voters were enrolled in the remote voting lists, and by 15:00 on the first day, 56,600 people had voted — 45 percent [19]. In the 18 September 2026 elections, by the same hour, 73,540 out of 160,273 registered for remote voting had cast their ballots — a turnout of 45.88 percent [22].
All precinct electoral commissions have begun operating in normal mode. I would remind you that voting is possible at a polling station, as well as at home if there is a valid reason for it [18]
Accessibility of polling stations for people with disabilities
More than 90 percent of the Region's polling stations are located on ground floors, and around 70 percent are equipped with ramps; all stations have magnifying glasses and additional lighting, and some have large-print stencils [21]. The 2018 list noted, for each urban polling station, which floor the voting room was on, whether there was a ramp, a designated parking space for vehicles of people with disabilities, a call button, and a lift [1].
For visually impaired voters, tiflomarkers are used — devices that read aloud a pre-recorded text of the ballot. They were first deployed in Nizhny Novgorod Region at five polling stations in 2021, and by 2026 at 72 stations. Informational materials and stencils in Braille were available at 170 polling stations [11].
Tiflomarkers are a very convenient device for visually impaired people that allows them to vote independently, without outside assistance [11]
Observation at polling stations
Party and candidate observers, representatives of the Public Chamber of Nizhny Novgorod Region, and journalists work at polling stations throughout all voting days. At the 2021 elections, more than 139 representatives of print and online publications received accreditation from the regional commission, and over 8,000 observers monitored the single voting day [20].
In 2026, 5,745 observers worked at polling stations across the region: 2,988 were sent by registered candidates, parties, and electoral associations, and another 2,757 by the regional Public Chamber. One hundred and three media representatives covered the voting. Observers traveled to the region from Burundi, Vietnam, Germany, Spain, Mauritania, the United States, Tunisia, and Ethiopia, along with a delegation from the CIS observer mission and the Belarusian Consul General in Nizhny Novgorod, Oleg Shvets [12].
The Public Monitoring Headquarters reported that observers were present at every polling station in the region; moreover, blogger-observers worked at 90 percent of polling stations in Nizhny Novgorod and the region's major cities, and at 70 percent of stations in municipal districts. The headquarters' mobile teams visited 520 polling stations, and over the three days the hotline received 38 inquiries, all of an informational nature [13].
The public oversight system in Nizhny Novgorod Region has confirmed its effectiveness. Everything worked out for us [13]
Voter turnout: Nizhny Novgorod and the Region
Urban polling stations consistently show turnout below the regional average. In the elections of September 18–20, 2026, across the entire region 1,415,312 people had voted by 18:00 on the final day — 57.21 percent [12], while across the nine territorial commissions of Nizhny Novgorod the average turnout at the same hour was approximately 43.7 percent, with all nine city commissions falling below the regional average [15].
Within the city, the spread reached eleven percentage points: Sovetsky District recorded the highest turnout, while Leninsky District recorded the lowest [15]. Across the region the picture is reversed: in rural districts turnout reached 80–88 percent, and the lowest was in Dzerzhinsk — 41.27 percent at the Kalininskaya commission and 42.82 at the Sverdlovskaya commission [16].
This had been the case before. In the elections of September 8, 2023, by 15:00 the polling stations had been visited by 202,267 people — 8.56 percent of those on the electoral rolls — with the highest turnout at that point recorded in Lukoyanovskiy Municipal District — 29.11 percent [19]. On the first day of voting, September 6–8, 2024, turnout by the end of the day stood at 15.68 percent [21]. By 15:00 on September 18, 2026, overall turnout including remote voting had reached 12.89 percent — 318,497 voters — with the highest figure recorded in Varnavinskiy Municipal District — 36.04 percent [22].
| City district | Turnout |
|---|---|
| Sovetsky | 48.28% |
| Prioksky | 47.17% |
| Avtozavodsky, Southern precinct | 46.47% |
| Avtozavodsky, Northern precinct | 43.86% |
| Moskovsky | 43.16% |
| Nizhegorodsky | 41.55% |
| Kanavinsky | 40.94% |
| Leninsky | 37.60% |
| Average across the nine city commissions | approximately 43.7% |
Polling stations during the pandemic: the 2021 elections
On 17 September 2021 at 08:00, 2,161 polling stations opened across the Region; more than 21,000 commission members at various levels with voting rights took part in organizing the vote [17][20]. For the first time, voting was spread over three days, and polling venues were prepared in accordance with epidemiological requirements: each voter was issued a disposable kit — a mask, a glove, and an individual pen; temperatures were taken contactlessly at the entrance; hand-sanitizing stations were set up; surfaces were disinfected daily; and commission members had their masks and gloves changed every three hours, and their gowns every four [17].
All polling stations are ready to receive voters. The voting premises are prepared to welcome voters; inspections have been carried out and security measures have been put in place, including measures to ensure the sanitary and epidemiological safety of citizens [17]
What was decided at the polls in 2026
The campaign of 18–20 September 2026 was the largest in the Region in five years: voting opened on 18 September across several levels simultaneously. State Duma deputies were elected under a mixed system, and five single-member constituencies were formed in the Region — nos. 131–135; 50 deputies were elected to the Legislative Assembly, half of them from single-member constituencies [10][14]. In addition, main municipal elections were held in Vyksa and the Semyonov District, while by-elections took place in the Balakhninsky, Vadskiy, and Vorotynsky Districts and in Bor [8][9].
On September 21, the regional commission announced the results. In the party-list vote for the State Duma, United Russia received 53.41 percent in the region, the KPRF — 14.49, the LDPR — 11.71, New People — 8.68, and A Just Russia — 6.16 percent. In the Legislative Assembly's single region-wide constituency, United Russia received 52.97 percent, the KPRF — 15.8, the LDPR — 11.52, New People — 8.91, and A Just Russia — 7.13 percent; the Pensioners' Party, with 2.54 percent, received no seats. United Russia candidates won in all single-member constituencies [14].
See also
- Nizhny Novgorod Electoral Commission (vybory.nnov.ru) — the city's electoral website.
- Remote Electronic Voting in the 2026 Nizhny Novgorod Region Elections
- Removal of Dmitry Smirnov from the State Duma election (2026)
- Chestnye Vybory (chestno.nnov.ru) and Narodny Nablyudatel (nn.netfirms.com) — Nizhny Novgorod election-monitoring projects from previous years.
Sources
- web.archive.org — Electoral Commission of Nizhny Novgorod Region (archive)
- consultant.ru — ConsultantPlus — Federal Law of 12.06.2002 No. 67-FZ, Article 19 "Formation of Electoral Precincts and Referendum Precincts" (archive)
- base.garant.ru — GARANT
- base.garant.ru — GARANT — Appendix. List of electoral precincts and referendum precincts on the territory of the city of Nizhny Novgorod
- consultant.ru — ConsultantPlus — Nizhny Novgorod Region: list of amended documents
- Nizhniy seychas — The City Hall of Nizhny Novgorod has established new electoral precincts (4 June 2026)
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Elections 2026 in Nizhny Novgorod Region: when, where, and how to vote (5 August 2026)
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Three-day elections have begun in Nizhny Novgorod Region (18 September 2026)
- Vremya N — Elections have begun in Nizhny Novgorod Region (18 September 2026)
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Three-day voting has begun in Nizhny Novgorod Region on 18 September (archive)
- Vremya N — Typhlo-information technologies are being used at 72 electoral precincts in Nizhny Novgorod Region
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — More than 1.4 million Nizhny Novgorod residents voted in the 2026 elections (archive)
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Public monitoring board has summarized election observation results in Nizhny Novgorod Region (archive)
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Nizhny Novgorod electoral commission has announced the results of elections to the State Duma and the Regional Legislative Assembly (archive)
- Nizhniy seychas — Leninsky District of Nizhny Novgorod proved the least active in the elections (22 September 2026)
- Nizhniy seychas — The least active territories in the Nizhny Novgorod elections have been identified (22 September 2026)
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — All electoral precincts in Nizhny Novgorod Region opened on schedule (17 September 2021) (archive)
- nobl.ru — Government of Nizhny Novgorod Region — 2,188 electoral precincts in Nizhny Novgorod Region have opened and begun work (8 September 2023)
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — By 15:00, electoral precincts in Nizhny Novgorod Region had been visited by 202,267 voters (archive)
- Newsroom24 — All 2,100 electoral precincts in Nizhny Novgorod Region are open on 17 September
- Otkryty Nizhniy — The second day of voting in the elections has begun in Nizhny Novgorod Region
- nnov.er.ru — The first day of voting has ended: electoral precincts in Nizhny Novgorod Region will continue to operate on 19 and 20 September
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — The format will be decided by the school: how children study on election days and how to spend that time
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Gleb Nikitin voted on the first day of elections in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
- web.archive.org — Electoral Commission of Nizhny Novgorod Region — Address and telephone numbers of the Electoral Commission of Nizhny Novgorod Region (archive)