Note the two "Joseph Russo" entries on the ballot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_John_F._K...
(The link opened fine for me.)
The signature process is usually outsourced to people making $.25 a signature. And there is a HUGE amount of fraud. Even when checking against the voter file. Which BTW is public info for most places, which makes it easy to fill in 'correct' data.
This happens even on legitimate large campaigns with controls who do NOT want to cheat lest they get thrown off ballot. But hire enough field organizers some are bound to cheat.
That's why usually submit sometimes 2X the required number.
Listing candidates to intentionally confuse voters is completely different than (correctly!) challenging the legitimacy of voter signatures. Calling the latter a "trick" is completely dishonest.
This whataboutism in America is exhausting.
Edit: in the Russian case, they also changed their appearance to match
According to a sibling comment, this strategy goes back to JohnF Kennedy at least. Except that the Russians take it to the next level
Why did Stalinist Russia bother with show trials? The appearance of legitimacy is enough to give cover to people who approve of the government without wanting to own up to its dirty tricks, and to mute the voices of those who disapprove.
look at Belarus, when stuff became too obvious, people started to display dissatisfaction. That is Putin’s fear IMO.
And he knows that, but if he won the election with 60% of votes, it would show that there are other candidates or political parties with tremendous support. Yeah, they can exist and even win in different states across the country for different political roles.
Still, the idea that he wants to show to people is that he is supported by the majority and supported with overwhelming superiority in votes. He doesn't need fraud votes to win. He needs to fraud voting to show the dramatic differences in support.
It's all about image in people's heads.
Majority of people are afraid to say otherwise. I've watched some deadpan comedian from Lithuania do some interviews in Moscow. People face change and they immediately walk away after mentioning Putin. Of course the best question was:
"What do you think Russia would look like if Putin was homosexual?"
Correction: 'political consulting' is probably the correct translation, however it doesn't convey the same cynicism expressed by 'political technology'.
[1] https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%82...
In one of the FL cases, reporters went to the house of the "other" one and he literally couldn't say why he was on the ballot. That is my recollection of the story I read at the time.