[Asia Economy Reporter Sung Ki-ho] The Constitutional Court has ruled that the regulation requiring two personal assistants to accompany a disabled person who cannot mark their ballot independently and whose family cannot assist them does not violate the Constitution.
On the 7th, the Constitutional Court announced that it upheld the constitutionality of Article 157, Paragraph 6 of the Public Official Election Act, which sets the condition of accompanying a voting assistant for disabled voters, by a 6 (constitutional) to 3 (unconstitutional) decision in a constitutional complaint case filed by Mr. A, a Grade 1 brain lesion disabled person, who claimed it infringed on the secrecy of private life.
In May 2017, during the 19th presidential election, Mr. A attempted to vote with the help of one personal assistant who was not a family member but was stopped by the election official, after which he filed a constitutional complaint.
According to the Public Official Election Act, when a disabled person who cannot mark their ballot independently votes with the help of an assistant, if the assistant is not a family member, two assistants must accompany the voter.
The Constitutional Court judged that this provision "is intended to prevent voting assistants from exerting undue influence on the exercise of the disabled person's voting rights and to ensure the fairness of elections," recognizing the legitimacy of the legislation.
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