Remote voting of Ukrainian citizens abroad in the first post-war elections and referendum on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union

The publication is devoted to the topical topic of ensuring the possibility of Ukrainian citizens voting abroad in the first post-war elections in Ukraine and the referendum on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. The subject of the study is remote forms of voting. The purpose of the study is to assess the legality of the decision of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine to refuse to support the implementation of remote forms of voting in the first post-war elections. It was established that the shortage of polling stations in a foreign electoral district allows only one in ten voters to be personally present at the polling station on voting day. The proposed options for improving voters’ access to voting were considered: a) additional polling stations outside diplomatic institutions, b) voting by proxy (proxy voting), c) postal voting, d) Internet voting. It was determined that remote forms of voting are voting by mail and the Internet. It was noted that the ballot is compatible with postal voting for transmission, and cannot be transmitted remotely via the Internet; there is a need to create an electronic ballot. The relationship between postal voting and law is investigated. It is found that remote voting by mail is a type of universal suffrage, which is implemented by postal means. It is specified that universal suffrage is guaranteed to citizens by Article 70 of the Constitution of Ukraine, and the right to postal communication is guaranteed by the Law of Ukraine “On Postal Communication” and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The widespread thesis that it is impossible to conduct postal voting in one day is refuted. The model of one-day postal voting is substantiated using the example of the private postal operator «Nova Poshta» in Poland. The conclusion states that depriving Ukrainians abroad of the opportunity to vote remotely by mail in the face of a catastrophic shortage of polling stations is a violation of the universal right to vote and the right to correspondence.