'One More Voting Booth Outside' Early Voting Heats Up Even for Confirmed Cases

Guaranteeing Voting Rights for Confirmed Cases... Early Voting Available from 5 to 6 PM on the 5th

Queue Extends Over 20 Meters... Election Staff Ensuring Safety Measures

On the afternoon of the 5th, the last day of early voting for the 20th presidential election, around 5 p.m., COVID-19 confirmed patients were waiting in front of a separately installed voting booth to cast their early votes.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] On the afternoon of the 5th, the last day of early voting for the 20th presidential election, around 4:30 PM.

An additional voting booth was installed outside the Pungam-dong Community Center in Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, which is an early voting site. This booth is to guarantee the voting rights of COVID-19 confirmed patients.

Confirmed patients under self-quarantine can vote from 5 PM to 6 PM with permission from the quarantine authorities to go out.

To prevent the paths of confirmed patients and non-confirmed voters from overlapping, a fence was set up outside instead of the usual third floor of the community center, and election officials wearing protective suits were assigned for guidance.

The voting procedure for confirmed patients is slightly different from the usual process.

Confirmed patients arriving here fill out a consent form for issuing a ballot and hand it to the election official. The official then obtains a ballot from the usual voting booth and delivers it to the confirmed patient.

The patient marks the ballot at the booth installed for confirmed patients, places the ballot in an envelope, and hands it back to the election official, completing the voting process.

The election official places the ballot into the ballot box on the third floor. To prepare for any possible issues, an observer is present until the ballot is placed in the box.

Although the procedure is cumbersome, it is a measure to minimize the movement of confirmed patients and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

At 5 PM, confirmed patients began arriving at the polling station. Their movements were cautious, seemingly aware of avoiding contact with others.

As early voting rates reached record highs, the line of confirmed patients quickly extended about 20 meters.

Following the procedure, confirmed patients filled out the consent form, handed it to the election official, and shortly after, marked the ballots brought by the official.

After placing the marked ballots in envelopes and handing them back to the election official, the confirmed patients promptly left the site.

The election officials in charge of guidance also urged them to immediately return to their isolation locations.

A representative of the Pungam-dong early voting site said, “We did not expect the voting rate among confirmed patients to be this high,” and added, “We will pay utmost attention to safety during the remaining time and ensure smooth early voting.”

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