Presidential Election Turnout Reaches 68.7% as of 3 p.m., Surpasses 30 Million Voters

30,493,987 Voters Have Cast Their Ballots
Jeonnam Records Highest Turnout at 77.8%, Busan Lowest at 65.8%

As of 3:00 p.m. on June 3, the voter turnout for the 21st presidential election was provisionally tallied at 68.7%. The total number of voters surpassed 30 million.

On the 3rd, the day of the 21st presidential election, voters who finished voting at Samdeok-dong No. 2 polling station set up in the drama room on the first floor of Dongdeok Elementary School in Jung-gu, Daegu, are taking 'voting certification photos' in front of a bulletin board outside the polling station displaying elementary school students' voter turnout analysis. Photo by Yonhap News

According to the website of the National Election Commission, as of 3:00 p.m. on this day, 30,493,987 out of a total of 44,391,871 eligible voters had cast their ballots.

This figure includes the turnout from early voting, which took place on May 29 and 30 and saw the participation of 15,423,607 people (34.74%), as well as the combined turnout from overseas voting, shipboard voting, and absentee voting.

So far, the voter turnout is 0.6 percentage points higher than the turnout at the same time during the 20th presidential election in 2022 (68.1%), and 5.0 percentage points higher than the turnout during the 19th presidential election in 2017 (63.7%).

By region, when combining the main voting day and early voting, Jeonnam currently recorded the highest turnout at 77.8%, followed by Gwangju at 76.3% and Jeonbuk at 75.8%.

Although the voter turnout on the main voting day in the Honam region was relatively low, the early voting turnout was very high, with Jeonnam at 56.50%, Jeonbuk at 53.01%, and Gwangju at 52.12%, resulting in a high combined turnout.

In contrast, Busan recorded a turnout of 65.8%, Chungnam 66.2%, and Daegu 67.1%, which were among the lower rates. Daegu had the lowest early voting turnout among metropolitan governments at 25.63%, but showed a relatively high turnout on the main voting day.

Turnout in other regions was as follows: Seoul 68.4%, Incheon 67.0%, Daejeon 68.3%, Gyeonggi Province 68.5%, Sejong 72.9%, Ulsan 67.2%, Gyeongbuk 68.4%, Gyeongnam 67.3%, Gangwon 69.1%, and Jeju 63.9%.

Attention is focused on whether the final voter turnout in this presidential election will surpass 80%. Since the introduction of direct presidential elections, the only time voter turnout exceeded 80% was during the 15th presidential election, when former President Kim Dae-jung was elected, with a turnout of 80.7%.

The 18th presidential election, in which former President Park Geun-hye was elected (75.8%), the 19th presidential election, in which former President Moon Jae-in was elected (77.2%), and the 20th presidential election, in which former President Yoon Suk-yeol was elected (77.1%), all exceeded 75% but did not reach 80%.

The voter turnout announced on the National Election Commission's website at the top of every hour is based on data collected nationwide 10 minutes prior to the announcement.

After voting ends at 8:00 p.m. on this day, ballot boxes will be transported to 254 counting stations across the country. The vote counting is expected to begin around 8:30 to 8:40 p.m.