"QR Code Not Allowed" Early Voting Suspension Request... Dismissed by Court

Early Voting Station for the 20th Presidential Election Being Installed at Seoul Station / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] An administrative lawsuit requesting that the use of 'QR codes' be prohibited in the early voting of the 20th presidential election was filed but was not accepted by the court. The court followed the Supreme Court precedent that prohibits filing lawsuits against each administrative execution act of the election management agency until the election is concluded.

According to the legal community on the 28th, the 8th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Lee Jeonghee) recently dismissed the suspension of execution case filed by 1,028 people including Mr. Oh against the National Election Commission. Dismissal means concluding the case without substantive judgment on the grounds that the lawsuit requirements were not met.

The court stated, "Acts such as preparing ballots, setting up temporary offices, preparing the list of absentee voters, and election counting in the presidential election are individual acts of the election management agency, the respondent, related to the management and execution of the presidential election," and added, "Applicants cannot file administrative lawsuits seeking invalidation of each act (before the election ends)."

Furthermore, the court explained, "The substantive lawsuit filed is improper, so it is clear that this application, which is based on such a lawsuit, does not meet the requirement of 'continuation of a proper substantive lawsuit' for suspension of execution," and "this application is improper and is therefore dismissed in its entirety."

Previously, Mr. Oh and others filed an administrative lawsuit claiming that "the National Election Commission's measures to use QR codes on early voting ballots and to allow absentee voting (mail voting) for COVID-19 self-quarantined individuals are illegal and raise the possibility of election fraud."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.