Sanitary guidelines introduced for general election

Poll workers test a counting machine in preparation for the April 15 general election at a district office in Gwangju, Thursday. Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo

All voters will be required to wear masks at over 14,300 polling stations nationwide for the April 15 general election.

They also will have their body temperatures checked, be required to wash their hands with sanitizer and wear sanitary gloves before entering the polling stations. They will need to keep a distance of one meter from each other at all times.

These are some of the guidelines introduced by the National Election Commission (NEC) to help protect voters from the coronavirus on Election Day.

“We've come up what we think are the best possible measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus,” the NEC said. “We'll continue to do our best to ensure every voter casts their ballot safely irrespective of the national emergency.”

For those who forget to bring masks with them, the NEC is consulting relevant ministries on providing masks for free or letting them use separate voting booths that will be sterilized more strictly than regular ones.

Such booths will be open as well for those who have a fever of 37.5 Celsius or breathing problems.

“By doing so, we want to ensure any possibly infected people do not come into contact with people who are not infected,” the NEC said.

All polling workers will wear masks and sanitary gloves, minimize physical contact with voters, and clean facilities and equipment within polling premises frequently.

The same sanitary measures will be imposed during the early voting period from April 10 to 11. Over 3,500 polling stations will be available over the two days.

For patients with confirmed infections and being separated at home, hospitals or care facilities, they will need to register from March 24 to 28 if they want to vote where they are staying and have ballots delivered accordingly.

“In cases where people are infected with the virus after March 28, we have not finalized a solution and consultations are underway with relevant ministries,” the NEC said.

The commission plans to run a campaign to help remind voters of the sanitary requirements for voting.

The NEC has been scrambling to figure out how to allow voters to cast their ballots safely amid the unprecedented pandemic that hit the country in February.