"Is This Really South Korea in 2022?" Controversy Over COVID-19 'Early Voting' Mismanagement... Election Commission "Deeply Apologetic"

On the second day of early voting for the 20th presidential election, on the 5th, a COVID-19 confirmed patient is voting with guidance from an election staff member at an early voting site set up at Jeonbuk Provincial Office in Jeonju, Jeonbuk.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] The political sphere is pouring criticism over the controversy surrounding the Election Commission's poor management of early voting.

On the 6th, Lee Nak-yeon, the General Election Committee Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, wrote on his Facebook, "Is this really South Korea in 2022? Is this the Election Commission of South Korea that once boasted the highest capabilities?"

Earlier, during the early voting process for COVID-19 confirmed patients and those in quarantine conducted the previous day, a controversy over poor management arose. At temporary polling stations nationwide, proper ballot boxes were not prepared, and election office staff were seen storing ballots in flimsy containers and placing them into ballot boxes on behalf of voters.

In response, Chairperson Lee criticized, "The management of early voting for confirmed patients and quarantined individuals was terribly mishandled," adding, "Sick individuals were made to wait for a long time, and ballots were transported in paper boxes, office envelopes, and even garbage bags. Ballots were placed in plastic bags. This is very disappointing."

He further pointed out, "Although there must have been difficulties due to the rapid increase in confirmed and quarantined individuals, wasn’t this something everyone was aware of?"

Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the People Power Party, also criticized, "The Election Commission’s planning regarding this early voting was complacent, the execution was crude, and the post-explanation was even high-handed."

At the expanded election committee meeting held that day, Lee said, "Since this is the first time separate voting for confirmed patients is being implemented, some may accept the Election Commission’s poor planning and complacent election management, but if no one at the Election Commission recognized and corrected the wrong and abnormal practice of placing the precious votes of the people in garbage bags or delivery boxes, that is also a cause for concern."

He also urged measures to prevent the same issues from recurring in the main election. Lee stated, "The People Power Party will question the Election Commission about the reasons behind this situation and will demand that they promptly come up with satisfactory supplementary measures before the main election on March 9."

Meanwhile, the Central Election Commission (Chairperson Noh Jeong-hee) apologized for the controversy and promised to prepare countermeasures.

In a statement released that day, the Central Election Commission bowed its head, saying, "We deeply regret and apologize for the inconvenience caused during the early voting of COVID-19 confirmed voters conducted on March 5."

The Commission explained, "With the revision of the Public Official Election Act expanding voting hours for confirmed patients on election day and to guarantee the voting rights of the rapidly increasing number of confirmed voters, special measures were prepared to allow voting during early voting days as well," adding, "The temporary polling station voting method implemented this time complies with laws and regulations, and the observation by party-recommended observers was guaranteed throughout the process, so there is absolutely no possibility of fraud."

It continued, "The same method was used for voting by self-quarantined voters on election day during the 21st National Assembly election and the April 7, 2021 by-elections," but noted, "However, this election saw the highest early voting rate ever recorded, and due to the high participation enthusiasm, limitations in election staff and polling station facilities, there were shortcomings in managing early voting for confirmed voters."

It added, "Our commission takes this matter seriously, and we will accurately identify and thoroughly review the revealed issues to promptly prepare measures so that the public can vote with confidence on election day."

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