As of 12 p.m., early voting turnout highest in Sejong, lower in Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province

Sejong 9.60%, Daejeon 8.19%, South Chungcheong 8.01%

Ballot box at the Buldang 1-dong early voting station set up in the main conference room of Cheonan City Hall on the 29th. Photo by Park Jonghyuk

As of 12:00 p.m. on the first day of early voting for the 21st presidential election on May 29, the voter turnout rate in the Chungcheong region stood at 8.19% in Daejeon, 9.60% in Sejong, and 8.01% in South Chungcheong Province.

According to the National Election Commission's tally, a total of 3,861,415 voters out of 44,391,871 eligible voters participated in early voting at 3,568 polling stations nationwide, which began at 6:00 a.m. on the same day.

In Daejeon, as of 12:00 p.m., 101,753 out of 1,241,882 eligible voters cast their ballots, resulting in an early voting turnout rate of 8.19%.

In Sejong, 29,171 out of 307,067 eligible voters participated, recording an early voting turnout rate of 9.60%.

In South Chungcheong Province, 147,412 out of 1,839,339 eligible voters participated, resulting in a turnout rate of 8.01%. Although this was 0.69 percentage points lower than the nationwide early voting turnout rate of 8.70% at the same time, it was 1.00 percentage point higher compared to the 20th presidential election, which recorded 7.01%.

The area with the highest early voting turnout rate was Seocheon County at 10.72%, followed by Cheongyang County at 10.24% and Taean County at 9.95%.

The area with the lowest early voting turnout rate was Seobuk District in Cheonan City at 6.35%. Asan City recorded 6.89%, and Dongnam District in Cheonan City recorded 7.10%.

Early voting will continue until May 30, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. each day. Voters can cast their ballots at any early voting station nationwide, regardless of their registered address, as long as they have an ID.