Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Coronavirus likely to disrupt overseas voting
Korean living in Australia line up at the Consulate General of Korea in Sydney to vote for the general elections on April 25, 2017 photo. / Korea Times file
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
The fallout from the coronavirus outbreak could affect the upcoming election as Koreans living abroad may struggle to reach their polling stations due to many countries restricting the movement of residents to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
With the general election scheduled for April 15, Koreans living abroad can cast their ballots for proportional representations from April 1 to 6 at 206 diplomatic missions from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the National Election Commission (NEC).
Among a total of 2.14 million people eligible to vote, 176,960 applied to register to vote at overseas polling stations, the election watchdog added.
The biggest challenge to overseas voting is more countries across the globe imposing a lockdown that prevents people from going to the polls.
Italy and Spain have placed lockdowns, requiring people to stay home unless it's essential for them to leave, while the United States also urges its people to avoid public spaces after declaring a national emergency. In addition, India, the Philippines, Israel and Denmark are also turning to increasingly drastic measures to slow the spread of the virus.
Korean diplomatic missions are not placed in every city of a country, so such restrictions may fundamentally prohibit people from reaching their polling stations.
Although there is a Korean consulate general in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, the election watchdog concluded that there would not be overseas voting there due to the lockdown and travel restrictions.
Making the situation worse, some areas may find it difficult to send the ballots to Korea due to reduced or suspended flights.
As a result, the NEC is exploring various measures including bringing the ballots back to Korea via a third country or counting them at the diplomatic missions.
“If necessary, we will shorten the period of overseas voting or possibly we will not hold the voting itself at some diplomatic missions after consulting with the foreign ministry,” an NEC official said.
Amid concerns over low voter turnout from Koreans living abroad, some are calling for the NEC to adopt electronic voting or allow people to vote by mail.
“An introduction of electronic voting or voting by mail will address concerns over quarantine and low turnout,” said an official of the Federation of Korean Associations in Japan.
In the previous general election in 2016, 63,797 out of 154,217 registered overseas voters cast their ballots, with turnout reaching 41 percent.
Overseas voting was first introduced in 2012 for the 19th National Assembly election, and is allowed for general and presidential elections.