Election Commission Faces 'Leave Rush' Ahead of Major Election... Why Are Public Officials Frustrated? [What Do You Think?]

Public Officials Tasked with Handling Election Materials
"Election Commission Should Take Direct Responsibility"
Election Commission Repeatedly Grants Leave Ahead of Elections

"During election season, district office staff give up their weekends and holidays to handle election mailings from morning until 11 p.m., while the Election Commission just stands by with their arms crossed, watching for about 10 minutes before leaving."

This post was made by a local government official on the anonymous community 'Blind' as preparations for the June 3 presidential election ramped up and local governments took on election duties. The official claims that the Election Commission, which should be responsible for overseeing the entire election process, is shifting a significant portion of the work onto local public officials. They argue that the Election Commission should handle these tasks directly.

The National Public Officials Labor Union held a press conference on the afternoon of the 17th in front of the Central Election Commission in Gwacheon, calling for the suspension of election agency duties. Photo by Jeonggongno

One of the main agency tasks cited by local public officials is the handling of election promotional materials. When candidates produce materials to promote their pledges, these must be mailed to the addresses of eligible voters. Officials say this process leads to severe administrative inefficiency and waste. While candidates send the materials to the Election Commission, the job of transporting them to the 'work area' where they are stuffed into envelopes is assigned to local government staff. Because each candidate sends their materials at different times, officials must travel back and forth between the Election Commission and the work site multiple times. In the case of the presidential election, the workload is doubled because booklet-type materials must be sent separately from flyer-type materials.

Even if they try to outsource the handling of promotional materials, the labor budget is set at only about 84,000 won, making it difficult to secure workers. Park Jungbae, Senior Vice Chairman of the National Public Officials Labor Union, said, "Because it is so hard to find people, we tell them to just work for four hours and leave, and the remaining work is done by public officials. There is also no extra pay for the officials who supervise and manage the promotional material work."

The union has demanded that the Election Commission stop designating local governments to handle promotional materials for this presidential election and increase the budget for this work. They have warned that if the situation does not improve, they may refuse to handle the promotional materials altogether. Jeong Haechang, Secretary General of the Namhae County branch of the union, said, "Article 13, Paragraph 3 of the Public Official Election Act allows the Election Commission to delegate tasks to lower commissions only 'when it is deemed particularly necessary for election management.' However, since the Act was enacted, without exception, every election has seen these tasks shifted to lower commissions. How can this 'exceptional' circumstance be recognized every single time?"

Dissatisfaction among local public officials has grown as it became known that many Election Commission employees are on leave ahead of major elections. According to data obtained by Representative Lee Manhee of the People Power Party from the Election Commission, as of the end of February this year, there were 133 employees on leave. In the past, there were 134 on leave in February 2020, when the 21st general election was held, and 204 on leave at the end of February 2022, when both the presidential and local elections took place. In response, the Central Election Commission reportedly sent out an official notice last month urging staff to refrain from taking leave except in unavoidable circumstances, even mentioning the possibility of transferring staff to other cities or provinces. At a National Assembly confirmation hearing last month for Election Commission member nominee Kim Daeung, concerns were raised that, "While the right to take leave is legally protected, the widespread culture of taking leave to the extent that it interferes with core election management duties is a serious operational problem for the institution."