COVID-19 Positive Early Voters Wait 1-2 Hours
Suspicion of Fraudulent Voting Due to Proxy Ballot Delivery
On the first day of early voting for the 20th presidential election on the 4th, voters are waiting to vote at the polling station set up at Mangwon 1-dong Community Center in Mapo-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] The early voting for the 20th presidential election has not been tallied even three hours after the polls closed due to confusion surrounding voting by COVID-19 confirmed cases and quarantined individuals.
According to the National Election Commission on the 5th, some polling stations had not finished early voting even around 9 p.m., three hours after the voting deadline. As a result, the voter turnout as of the 6 p.m. closing time has not been calculated. This appears to be due to widespread confusion at early voting sites nationwide handling votes from COVID-19 confirmed cases and quarantined voters.
From 5 to 6 p.m. that day, COVID-19 confirmed cases and quarantined individuals voted at temporary booths separated from the general voters' flow. However, due to insufficient preparation by authorities and complicated procedures, various delays and confusion occurred.
Confirmed cases who came to the polling stations had to wait for one to two hours, and in one metropolitan area, a confirmed case even collapsed while waiting. There was no separate ballot box at the temporary booths for confirmed cases. Observers used boxes or shopping bags to deliver ballots on behalf of voters. This led to a flood of complaints expressing concerns about election fraud.
Nevertheless, voter turnout showed unprecedented enthusiasm. As of 5 p.m. that day, the turnout was 34.69%, the highest early voting rate ever recorded at that time. In the 2017 19th presidential election and the 2020 general election, the turnout at 5 p.m. was only 24.34% and 24.95%, respectively.
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