While election officials at Moscow polling stations visited by RFE/RL said turnout had been steady and higher than the previous presidential election, voter apathy was palpable.
"There is no real choice," 20-year-old Yevgeniy Kiva, who came out to one Moscow polling station not to vote but because he was paid by the local election committee to wear a clown suit and dance with children to pop music blaring from a mobile sound system.
"Give your smile to the world," two young boys sang into the sound system's microphone as Kiva twirled, expressionless.
Several people expressed displeasure at having to come and vote, with one middle-aged man, who declined to give his name for fear of repercussions, saying management at the local textile plant where he has worked for more than 20 years threatened to fire employees who didn't go to the polls.
According to the independent monitoring group Golos, there are reports of voters being pressured to go to the polls.
Economist Sergei Aleksashenko: "This is a standard Soviet-Russian election of the Putin period. Unwanted candidates are not allowed, the necessary votes are cast, and the electoral authorities are engaged in falsification."
Republic.ru has a compelling photo essay, The Election At The End Of The World, showing voters casting their ballots in Yakutia in the Russian Far East.
Somebody has creatively spoiled their ballot -- renaming the candidates as Game of Thrones characters. (Putin is the Night King.)
Another video from our correspondent in Moscow, Chris Miller: