Preparations underway to launch overseas voting

By Kim Young-jin

Staff reporter

Koreans living abroad inched closer Wednesday to being able to vote in national polls, as the Seoul government began training its overseas representatives to debut an absentee voting system in 2012.

Under the new system, some 2.5 million Koreans living overseas will be able to vote in the 2012 presidential election by registering with a South Korean embassy in their vicinity, where they would cast a ballot directly.

The training session, which runs through Friday at the National Election Commission (NEC) headquarters in Seoul, will instruct embassy officials on how to operate their voting facilities and send the ballots back to Korea.

The gathering also comes ahead of an NEC-coordinated mock election slated for Nov. 24, involving 26 embassies, to iron out kinks in the process.

“This week’s training session will provide an opportunity to discuss issues regarding overseas Koreans’ voting rights and fix any loopholes we might find,” an NEC official said. “It is a significant step in ensuring a sound and transparent electoral process and will help the embassies prepare for the new system.”

The launch will mark the first time Korean nationals living abroad will be allowed to vote from overseas, made possible by a Constitutional Court ruling in 2007 ensuring their suffrage.

Questions remain, however, regarding the transparency and efficacy of the system, which only allows for direct voting.

Under the law, direct campaigning is banned overseas, restricting candidates to making their case via the Internet, Korean satellite stations or over the phone. Some argue individuals or independent organizations could easily sidestep the rule as they are living outside Korean jurisdiction. Politicians are also divided over whether to permit sending ballots by mail in a bid to increase voter turnout.

Proponents argue that due to a lack of polling places, most overseas voters will have to travel several hours, sometimes crossing countries’ borders, in order to cast a ballot directly.

Both governing and opposition party lawmakers have submitted bills to introduce a postal voting option, but the issue has languished amid political bickering.