Members of election commissions working during the upcoming Russian State Duma parliamentary elections will receive a base pay rate of 45 rubles per hour for regular poll workers, according to data from job search service GdeRabota.ru provided to news outlet Gazeta.Ru.
The hourly pay rates were formally established by a decree issued by the Central Election Commission of Russia on June 24, 2026. Under Russian election law, only official election commission members receive guaranteed compensation for their work. Election observers and volunteers perform voluntary public service without established legal pay standards, leaving any financial remuneration dependent on decisions made by individual candidates or political parties.
For precinct election commissions, which directly staff local voting sites and manage ballot boxes on election day, committee chairmen receive 63 rubles per hour. Deputy chairmen and committee secretaries earn 57 rubles per hour, while standard commission members receive 45 rubles per hour. Precinct commissions form the frontline of the electoral process, handling voter verification and physical ballot processing at polling stations.
During a standard eight-hour weekday shift, a regular commission member earns 360 rubles. Night shifts and weekend duties are compensated at double the base rate, paying 90 rubles per hour and yielding 720 rubles for an eight-hour night shift.
Pay rates across election commission tiers
Compensation scales upward for higher-tier electoral authorities supervising the voting process. Members of territorial election commissions receive between 69 and 88 rubles per hour, depending on their specific role within the committee. Territorial commissions oversee groups of local precinct boards within municipal districts, coordinating logistics and compiling district totals.
Staff members at regional election commissions across the subjects of the Russian Federation earn between 99 and 141 rubles per hour. Pay rates at the regional tier vary based on the total number of registered voters living within each administrative jurisdiction. Regional commissions manage election oversight across Russia's federal subjects, which include oblasts, republics, and autonomous krais.
The State Duma is the lower house of the parliament of Russia, consisting of 450 elected deputies who pass federal legislation in Moscow. The Central Election Commission of Russia acts as the independent supreme body governing all federal election proceedings, setting administrative guidelines, voter registration procedures, and official salary structures across all commission levels.
Workplace compensation and regional caps
Election commission members holding decisive voting rights are legally protected from losing employment earnings when election duties coincide with regular workdays. When employees are officially released from their primary jobs following a formal submission by an election commission, employers must preserve their position while lost wages are fully reimbursed under federal law.
Electoral commissions pay this employment compensation based on the worker's average salary over the previous 12 months. However, the Central Election Commission imposes a maximum monthly reimbursement limit for each region. In Moscow, the maximum compensation cap for 2026 is set at 180,861 rubles for a full month of work.
Following the conclusion of voting, commission members may also receive non-guaranteed financial rewards for active participation. Separately, previous reports indicated that high voter turnout for the State Duma elections is expected in seven foreign countries.
