The paper, for the first time, uses materials from the private periodical press of Siberia to examine the public perception of urban election campaigns in Siberian cities at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. Siberian periodicals are used as sources of the database: “Eastern Review”, “Yenisei”, “Siberian Bulletin of Politics, Literature and Public Life”, “Sibirsky Leaflet”. The characteristics given by Siberian periodicals of changes in the city electoral system according to the City Regulations of 1892 are highlighted, which mainly include: criticism of the class nature of the composition of voters; elimination of differentiated property qualifications; approval of the provision of voting opportunities by precinct; approval of restrictions from among the voters of small traders and other categories of citizens. The features of the electoral process are shown, including electoral technologies and violations during elections (mainly fraud with election balls during voting, the use of symbols during voting, voting by absent persons). The characteristics of voters' attitude to the exercise of their voting rights are given and the problem of absenteeism is revealed. It is noted that typical instruments for refusing to exercise the right to vote were refusal to pay arrears, as well as a deliberate understatement of the value of owned real estate. Data on the coverage of city heads elections in Siberian periodicals are presented. The content of the positions of the leading newspapers of Siberia in relation to the composition of city dumas according to the class affiliation of their members and possible reforms in the field of city electoral law (primarily, expanding the number of voters by granting rights to tenants) is characterized.
Alexander Sorokin (Fri,) studied this question.