COVID-19 Positive Voters Allowed on 5th and 9th... "Going Out from 5 PM"

Temporary outing allowed from 5 PM on March 5 and 9
Six notification texts sent on the day before and the day of voting

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Temporary outings will be allowed to guarantee the voting rights of COVID-19 confirmed patients. They can go out from 5 p.m. on the day of early voting or election day, and the government plans to send a total of six text messages to guide them on the day before and the day of voting.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced on the 2nd that they discussed the COVID-19 prevention management plan for the 20th presidential election with such content.

Accordingly, confirmed patients and those in quarantine can go out for election purposes from 5 p.m. on the election day, March 9, or the second day of early voting, March 5, and must return home immediately after voting ends.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Accident Response Headquarters, explained, "Confirmed patients and those in quarantine can vote between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on March 9, the voting day. However, on March 5, the early voting day, outings are allowed after 5 p.m., and voters must arrive at the polling station before 6 p.m. to be able to vote."

The head of the local health center will send outing guidance text messages, including precautions after going out, to confirmed and quarantined voters at 12 p.m. the day before early voting (March 5), 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. on the day of early voting, and at 12 p.m. the day before election day (March 9), 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. on election day.

Confirmed and quarantined voters must present their ID along with the outing guidance text message or confirmation/quarantine notification message to the election staff and vote at a separately prepared temporary voting booth according to the staff’s instructions.

Regarding concerns about insufficient voting time for confirmed patients given the increasing number of cases, Son said, "Since we have provided about an hour and a half of voting time over two days, we do not realistically expect major difficulties."

Park Hyang, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, also explained, "The election law was amended to extend the voting time itself, so the one and a half hours is based on the arrival time. Even for critically ill patients, outings are allowed regardless of their condition, thus guaranteeing voting rights within the scope of outings."

Regarding the overlap with general voters’ routes, Park said, "We plan to set up temporary voting booths separately for them to vote. Early voting is set with an arrival time of 6 p.m., and the polling stations will be separated." He added, "In cases where confirmed patients are not notified on election day due to confirmation delays, we have prepared measures to inform the health centers or the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency through emergency contact networks."

Earlier, on the 16th of last month, the Public Official Election Act was amended to allow infectious disease patients in quarantine to participate in election activities. The government established the grounds and procedures for allowing outings of infectious disease patients through the amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act on the 24th of last month.

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