The newly minted Russian citizen Kevin Johnson said that voting in the country's presidential elections was a "privilege" and "honor" for him.
"[I voted] just about two hours, three hours ago, so I'm still taking it in myself. Like, wow. What a privilege. What an honor," Johnson shared his first impressions with Sputnik Africa.
He continued by saying that his whole voting experience was excellent, and basically, undescribable, as one needs to come and feel it by themselves.
"Everything, from the moment I touched down in Samara [a city where Johnson voted], everything was 15 stars. How can you go past seven stars? You got to come witness this. It's not just a normal day.[...] I tell some people, come walk a day in my shoes, you'll feel and see and understand what it's like, man. It's just hard to explain. Easy to show," the boxer said.
However, Johnson pointed out that it was "pretty easy" for him to vote.
"The voting was pretty easy. You know, you get your paper, you give [them] your passport, you go into your booth, you fill out the ballot for who you want to select, and you drop it in the box," the athlete explained.
Lastly, talking about the opportunity to vote electronically, Johnson noted that he hasn't seen "anything like that" and reckoned that the virtual ballots can encourage young people to "get out and vote."
"It supports young people to get out and vote. If you take a young person's schedule between the hours of 9 to 5, that's their busiest time of the day but if they could just take 20 minutes out and do it virtually, not even 25 minutes out and do it virtually, that's everything," the boxer said.