The National Election Commission (NEC) of the Republic of Korea announced that the preparation of the voting and counting for the April 7th Re and By-election is in the smooth process, and plans to complete setups and disinfection of the 3,459 polling stations and 55 counting centers in the re and by-election regions before the start day of election.

Thorough disinfection of the polling stations to ensure the voters’ rights to vote in a safe manner

 While the disinfection of the polling stations will be complete before the day of election and no outsiders’ visits will be allowed for the polling stations before the start of voting, NEC also plans to go through ventilation and sanitization as often as possible on the day of election.

Voters can go into the polling stations after they have their temperature checked at the entrance of the stations, sanitize their hands and wear the vinyl gloves. The voters who have temperature at 37.5 or above, or respiratory symptoms will need to vote in a temporary polling booth that is set up separately.

Voters are urged to abide by the ‘Code of Conduct for voting participation’, which includes mask-wearing, distance-keeping, and refrain of conversations.

Facilitation of polling stations for enhancing convenience of voting

To enhance the voters’ accessibility to polling stations, for voters, 3,260 locations(94.2%) out of whole 3,459 polling stations are set up on the first floor or near elevators; there will be temporary ramps set up if necessary. For every polling station, large-sized polling booths, specialized marking devices(mouth-piece type and band type) and magnifiers, Braille voting aid devices for the visually impaired will be prepared; additionally, Korean sign language interpreters will be ready in 37 polling stations for the disabled with hearing impairment.

For the voting management, about 40,000 polling stations managers and staff will be placed. The voting observers recommended by parties or the candidates will participate as well.

Fair and accurate voting and counting management

There will be final simulations for ballot sorting machine in the presence of the observers selected by each party and the candidates the day before election day.

After the closing hour of voting, the ballot boxes will be sealed on the slot with specialized sealing paper and be delivered by polling stations managers under the escort of police officials.

Around 14,000 counting staff will be placed for the counting management; not only the observers recommended by the parties and the candidates, but also the counting observers who are selected by open recruitment can observe, so that the transparency of the counting process will be enhanced.

The counting stations plan to complete disinfection before the day of election, sanitize and ventilate as often as possible. Since many staff will be gathered inside the counting stations, they are subject to keeping the disinfection code. The counting observers should observe the process, keeping a sufficient distance. The media will be able to cover/report at the designated locations.

While the NEC emphasizes to keep orders and code of conduct for disinfection for the safety of the voters, voting and counting staff in the polling and counting stations, the NEC also expresses its will to fully prepare for the fair and accurate voting and counting management.