This past weekend, the notoriously unpopular incumbent Governor Alexander Beglov won reelection in St. Petersburg with a decisive 60 percent of the vote. In the lead-up to the election, Kremlin strategists planned to mobilize loyal voters and stifle opposition by fielding token candidates. However, it seems they were concerned that even this wouldn’t be enough. One man, speaking anonymously to the independent outlet Holod, said he was paid 1,000 rubles ($11) to vote four times for Beglov and a municipal deputy at different polling stations under different names. Meduza shares his first-hand account of how electoral fraud was orchestrated during the 2024 gubernatorial election in St. Petersburg.