[Report] Overseas Voting for April 10 General Election Begins in New York... "I Fulfilled My Civic Duty"

Early Overseas Voting Begins for Six Days
Only 6.4% of Overseas Voters in New York District Applied to Vote

"I have been in the United States for over 30 years, but I am still a citizen of the Republic of Korea. I am very interested in Korea's development and have property there. I came out early this morning to cast my vote for the party that will implement good policies."

On the 27th, when overseas voting for the 22nd National Assembly election began (local time), overseas Koreans were casting their votes at the polling station set up at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in New York, USA. New York - Photo by Kwon Haeyoung

At around 10:30 a.m. local time on the 27th, at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in New York, Lee Myung-su (79), who has lived in Westchester, New York for about 32 years since immigrating to the U.S., cast his precious vote in the 22nd National Assembly election overseas voting with his wife from early morning. He said that since overseas voting rights were granted to overseas Koreans in 2009, he has never missed voting in not only presidential elections but also general elections.

This day marked the first day of overseas voting ahead of the 22nd National Assembly election scheduled for the 10th of next month. Except for 2020, when overseas voting was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first time in eight years since 2016 that overseas voting for the National Assembly election has resumed. The Consulate General in New York, where the polling station was set up, was relatively quiet. About 60 people voted within two hours after the polls opened at 8 a.m. Bae Se-young (23), who came from California as an exchange student, said, "Although I am traveling in New York, I could not skip voting in the National Assembly election, so I applied for early voting in advance," adding, "Since I gained the right to vote, I have consistently fulfilled my civic duty without missing a single election."

Starting with the Consulate General in New York on this day, overseas polling stations will open in Bayside, Palisades Park, and Tenafly?Korean-dense areas in New Jersey?from the 29th. Overseas voting will continue for six days until the 1st of next month.

According to the National Election Commission, there are about 81,000 overseas voters in the New York election jurisdiction. Among them, 5,178 voters have applied and been pre-registered on the voter list, which is about 6.4% of the overseas voters in the New York district. Typically, the number of voters in overseas voting is significantly lower than in presidential elections. However, considering that the last overseas voting for the general election was in 2016, excluding 2020 when overseas voting was not conducted due to the pandemic, and that the registration rate of overseas absentee voters and overseas voters was around 4%, this is a slight increase.

Kim Su-jin, the overseas election officer at the Consulate General in New York, said, "Generally, interest in general elections is lower than in presidential elections," and added, "The proportion of registered voters has increased compared to the general election eight years ago. However, there is still a long way to go."

Meanwhile, overseas voting, which is being conducted until the 1st of next month, is taking place at 220 polling stations in 115 countries (178 overseas diplomatic missions) worldwide. As of the 11th, the number of overseas voters is 147,989.