The aim of draft Article 422 is less clear. It mirrors Article 15.3, paragraph 5 of the Election Law (as amended in August 2019), which provides for responsibility for the submission of knowingly false information about an electoral address of a voter, but it remains unclear what would constitute such “knowingly false information”. The electoral address is an instrument that allows voters to apply to vote at a place other than their registered place of residence (Article 15.3 of the Election Law). Such voters are taken off voter lists at their place of residence and included on voter lists at the requested electoral address. If a voter provides a false (non-existent) electoral address, s/he would presumably not be able to vote. If a voter provides a real address but does not actually intend to vote at the requested location or has another ulterior motive to change the voting location, it is questionable that such behaviour can be penalised as long as the law entitles voters to change their voting address with few or no restrictions. It may be inferred that the draft Article 422 seeks to prevent suspicious “surges” in changes of voting addresses that may work to the benefit of particular contestants, especially in local elections. If that is the case, other ways that do not risk penalising voters for exercising their legal entitlement should be explored.
