By Jun Ji-hye
Voting using hand-held electronic devices will begin on a trial basis from July in small-scale private sector ballots, such as the election of school presidents and representatives of apartment complexes, an official from the election watchdog said Wednesday.
The National Election Commission said casting votes via smartphones or PCs could then be eventually extended to elections of public officials.
“To offer convenience for voters, we decided to launch an Internet and mobile voting service in cooperation with KT,” said the official.
The NEC and KT inked an agreement Tuesday to push ahead with the scheme.
“The NEC’s experience and expertise in managing elections and KT’s high technical skills and infrastructure in the information and communications field will be combined into the task. We will cooperate with each other to increase public interest in such a system,” the official said.
The NEC expects the measure to boost voter turnout and save time counting ballots because procedures for polling and vote counting will be far simpler than a paper vote system.
“We will do the best to invigorate Internet and mobile voting service, which will provide the public with broader opportunities to cast ballot. This will contribute to the development of the nation’s democracy,” said Kim Hong-jin, president of KT’s global business division.
Once put into practice, voters using personal computers or smart devices are able to gain access to the websites on which the election data are held. Then, they vote after completing a process of identification through submitting a digital certificate authentication or i-PIN (Internet Personal Identification Number). The results of the poll are then automatically tallied and announced as well.
The service will be under scrutiny to see if it can be applied to public office elections such as presidential, general and local elections.
It is expected to help promote voter participation, especially among the young generation, which has an apparent declining interest in politics.
The NEC official said the biggest concern is how perfectly it can guarantee the principle of secret or direct election.
“KT is trying to set up effective methods for identification and cyber security. The NEC is also mulling ways to draw up institutional measures to solve the problems raised,” said the official.
He added that more time will be needed to eventually establish the system for large scale elections because a revision to the Public Official Election Law will first have to be agreed between the ruling and opposition parties.