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Active Citizen: The best votes of 2017

Active Citizen: The best votes of 2017
In 2017, “active citizens” decided on the name of a new train, the design of a Moscow Doctor badge and the launch of device charging facilities at Moscow stations.

The Active Citizen portal marked its third anniversary in 2017.During its years of operation, the project has been involved in many key votes and numerous important decisions.

Mos.ru has selected the most important polls where results were implemented in 2017.

Seat colours chosen for Luzhniki

In March, seats were installed at the Luzhniki Big Sports Arena. “Active citizens” were to decide on the colour of the seats and selected burgundy with golden speckles. Meanwhile, experts agreed on nine shades for the upholstery to match the colour of the stadium roof.

In all, 137,228 people took part in the poll: 42.44 percent said that the seats should be burgundy with golden speckles; 29.37 percent voted for a graphite gray colour and 28.19 picked a golden shade.

New metro train named Moskva

On 14 April, the new-generation Moskva trains were launched on the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line. Innovative features included wider doorways and interconnected carriages, allowing passengers to walk through the train, modern climate control and air purification systems, LED lamps, sensor displays and interactive maps.

A total of 220,281 people took part in the poll to decide a name for the train: 15.07 percent thought it should be called Moskva (Moscow); the second most popular option, at 14.76 percent, was Stolitsa (Capital); 12.41 percent wanted Megapolis and 11.58 percent of “active citizens” voted for Molniya (Lightning).

The rest of the proposed names won less than 10 percent of votes: Volga (9.07 percent); Veter (Wind, 7.84 percent); Snegir (Bullfinch, 6.03 percent); Sinitsa (Great Tit, 5.49 percent); Meteor (5.07 percent) and Lena (4.29 percent).

4.73 percent of active citizens believed that the new train did not need any name.

Housing relocation programme

In June 2017, polling on the housing relocation programme closed on the Active Citizen website and at the My Documents state service centres. Ninety percent of the residents, or 4,079 buildings voted in favour of their homes being included in the programme. Following the voting and meetings held by homeowners, 5,171 buildings now participate in the scheme. Read more about the programme here.

It is worth mentioning that a special procedure for verification of data was created for the poll. In order to have the right to vote, users needed to provide their name, passport number, the number of their pension certificate, their date of birth and an account number associated with their flat. All data went through a three-stage verification process by the federal authorities. A vote counted only if all the data were correct.

Name for new metro line

Between 21 June and 4 December, Muscovites chose a name for a new metro line, the Third Interchange Circuit. Over 315,000 people took part in the vote. They were supposed to either keep the existing provisional name, or come up with a new one.

In all, more than 65,000 suggestions were submitted (21 percent of the total number of voters), while the most popular name was the Big Circle Line.

None of the suggested names received more than 50 percent of the votes as required and the second stage took place between 14 and 27 December, when the voters decided between the Third Interchange Circuit and the Big Circle Line.

The Big Circle Line was preferred by 53.34 percent of voters, while 36.51 percent voted for the Third Interchange Circuit.

Device charging points at almost all MCR stations

In July 2017, nearly all of the Moscow Central Circle (MCR) stations were equipped with device charging points. They are fitted with USB ports and 220W sockets.

Moreover, at each charging point two sockets and four USB ports are located close to the ground for the convenience of people with low mobility.

In all, 219,524 people took part in the vote. Most of them – 20.76 percent – were in favour of installing benches at stations; 15.68 percent would like to see new trees, shrubs and flowerbeds near stations; 15.5 percent voted for charging points for mobile phones and tablets; 11.98 percent wanted drink vending machines, while 9.68 percent supported city bike rental systems near MCR stations.

Snack vending machines were favoured by 9.57 percent; 8.76 percent voted for news stands and 4.9 percent wanted everything listed. In addition, 1.36 percent of voters suggested their own ideas for vending machines, while 0.36 percent voters decided none of the options were necessary.

Moscow Doctor badge chosen

In November 2017, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin presented Moscow Doctor certificates to 38 doctors in Moscow clinics.

Those awarded this status will get special badges. They feature the Bowl of Hygieia on a red background with a golden frame. This design was chosen by 70.95 percent of voters.

The design which ranked second in the poll was the Moscow Doctor inscription on a blue and green background: 12.99 percent voted for it. Another version, with the Moscow Doctor inscription against the background of a triangle inside a circle received 8.09 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, 7.97 percent voters believed that it was up to experts to decide on the badge. In all, 156,247 people took part in the vote.

Active Citizen now uses blockchain

In early December 2017, the Active Citizen project began to use blockchain technology. Now the data is stored both in an internal database and several other independent ones.

Blockchain guarantees that data will never be lost or changed after it has been submitted to the system. Nothing that goes into blockchain can be amended or deleted. A copy of this data is preserved and updated by all members of the system.

To hack a blockchain system, it would be necessary to hack all blocks and copies of the database on all computers, which is rather difficult – any person or organization can become part of it.

The introduction of this technology will make voting more transparent and protect stored data.

Two million users and 88 million opinions

The Active Citizen project was launched at the initiative of the Moscow Government in 2014 as a platform for holding open online referendums. The project makes it possible to hold city-wide and local polls on a broad range of issues. The scheme is unique in the world in terms of the number of active users and the range of issues citizens can vote on. The Active Citizen project has won several prestigious awards, including Smart Cities Awards 2015.

At the moment, there are almost 2 million registered users; 2,700 votes have been held and 88 million opinions taken into account.

In order to make the project transparent, a number of tools were introduced to allow users to watch the voting process and control the validity of the results. In particular, each voter can check the correctness of their vote and monitor the results online.

On 11 December 2017, Active Citizen received the Russian national Prometheus internet award for its economic, technological and social contribution to the lives of the citizens.