"‘Confirmed Suspected Patients’ Vote in General Election... On-Site Confusion Due to Inadequate Explanation (Summary)"

Rapid Antigen Test Positive Patients Participate in General Voting
Election Commission: "PCR Results Required for Confirmed Voter"
Disease Control Call Center Temporarily Provided Guidance Contrary to Protocol

On the 9th, the day of the 20th presidential election, COVID-19 positive voters are casting their precious votes at Yeomni-dong 2nd polling station set up at Hanseo Elementary School in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporters Byungseon Gong, Gyumin Oh, Seoyul Hwang] It has been confirmed that a person suspected of testing positive for COVID-19 participated in the general voting in this presidential election. This was due to the recent surge in confirmed cases causing delays in the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results. Additionally, confusion arose at the polling stations as the National Election Commission (NEC) and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) gave contradictory explanations regarding the criteria for confirmed cases to participate in voting.

According to Asia Economy’s investigation on the 9th, a suspected COVID-19 positive patient who tested positive on a rapid antigen test participated in the general voting at the 4th polling station in Gajeong 1-dong, Seo-gu, Incheon. Although the patient had undergone a PCR test at a hospital and was supposed to receive the result via text message before 6 p.m. that day, the overwhelming number of tests prevented them from confirming the result in time.

According to the investigation, NEC officials failed to provide clear guidelines immediately in such situations. They explained that even if a positive result is suspected, the only option was to contact the public health center to urge for the confirmation text message. When the result was still not received from the health center, they were told to participate in the general voting. Currently, the NEC’s guideline only allows those who have received a positive PCR test result to participate in confirmed case voting.

However, the KDCA provided a different explanation from the NEC. The KDCA stated, “If a person tests positive on a rapid antigen test, they are treated as isolated cases and must participate in confirmed case voting starting from 6 p.m.” Furthermore, regarding voting, the KDCA advised that contacting the public health center is more detailed than contacting the NEC.

This situation arose because the surge in confirmed cases has saturated the demand for COVID-19 PCR testing. The quarantine authorities are reducing the number of tests for preemptive screening targets such as overseas arrivals, workers in vulnerable facilities, and military enlistees.

Go Jaeyoung, spokesperson for the KDCA, explained, “This information differs from the quarantine authorities’ voting management guidelines,” and described it as “incorrect counseling by the 1339 call center due to unfamiliarity with the guidelines.” He added, “If a person tests positive on a rapid antigen test but has not received a PCR test result, they are not considered confirmed cases and should vote during the general voter voting hours.”

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