Despite its evidently restricted character, the [Soviet] elections in 1937 were perceived by many ordinary people as an opportunity to participate in framing a new constitutional order. The turnout reached 96.8 per cent of the electorate. Some ballots were spoilt. In one district 97 per cent of votes cast were valid, the remainder defaced in some way, or the candidate’s name erased. In Novosibirsk region the name ‘Trotsky’ was written in on one ballot, ‘I am voting for the heavenly Tsar’ on another, and ‘We are not voting’ on a third.⁹

(Source.)