A friend in Russia shared this quote with me:
Joseph Stalin wrote:The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do.
[Неважно, как проголосовали, — важно, как подсчитали.]
There is some dispute about the exact words which Stalin said, but the general meaning remains the same regardless of the exact words. Another version goes like this:
Joseph Stalin wrote:I believe that it does not matter at all who and how will vote in the party; but what is extremely important is who and how will count the votes.
[Я считаю, что совершенно неважно, кто и как будет в партии голосовать; но вот что чрезвычайно важно, это — кто и как будет считать голоса.]
Obviously, it's likely he made similar statements on multiple occasions. Yet another version of the quote goes like this:
Joseph Stalin wrote:“People who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”
[«Люди, которые голосуют, ничего не решают. Все решают люди, которые считают голоса ».]
Obviously, some of the uncertainty may be due to translations and re-translations back and forth of what Stalin actually said.
BTW, Stalin is also said to have said:
Joseph Stalin wrote:A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.
[Одна смерть - трагедия; миллион смертей - это статистика.]