Voting Starts Early For Russia's Nomadic Herders

Members of the "Yamb To" (Long Lake) indigenous community greet a helicopter with electoral commission officials at a reindeer camping ground in Nenets autonomous district, Russia, March 1, 2018.

Indigenous children, well wrapped up against the cold. Temperatures here can reach -40 Celsius.

A woman sits under a sheet of paper with information about the presidential candidates, inside a chum - a large tent made of tall wooden poles covered with reindeer hides.

Indigenous people examine the candidates...

...and cast their ballots.

An electoral commission official emerges from a chum during the early voting.

A herder feeds his reindeer. A top concern among these voters is the development of oil fields encroaching on pasture grounds.

The weather-beaten face of a nomad herder.

Open-air voting in the Arctic Circle.

Electoral commission members leave a weather station in the settlement of Cape Konstantinovsky, in Nenets autonomous district, Russia, March 8, 2018.

Children run towards a helicopter with electoral commission officials.