Workers inspect a polling station at an early voting center in Jongno-gu, central Seoul on Thursday, the day before the early voting period for the 22nd general election takes place. (Joint Press Corps)
The South Korean police have deployed around 2,000 police officers for the first time to monitor closely the entire process of transferring early voting ballots from the constituencies where they were submitted to their actual constituencies.
The Korean National Police Agency announced the deployment on Friday, coinciding with the commencement of the two-day early voting period for the April 10 general election.
In South Korea, voters who partake in the early voting process can vote at whichever polling station that’s the closest to them. On actual election day, voters can vote only at polling stations that are assigned to them based on which constituency they are registered in.
Previously, police officials were only present at the end of the early voting period. Their role was to unseal the early voting boxes containing ballots from individuals who voted outside their constituencies. They ensured that the number of issued ballots matched the count of return envelopes before transferring the ballots to the post office.
During this year’s early voting though, there is a significant change in protocol: one police official now accompanies each postal worker throughout the entire delivery process. This new procedure continues until the ballots are successfully delivered to regional branches of the National Election Commission.
For early voting, approximately 16,000 police officials have been mobilized to oversee voting conducted outside of electoral constituencies. This includes 14,000 officials responsible for monitoring the transfer of ballots from polling stations to post offices, following the usual protocol.
By deploying more police officials to assist in the transportation of ballots outside of voters’ constituencies, the government believes that it will prevent more allegations from being raised regarding fraudulent elections.
According to police officials, those who have raised such allegations in the past have run after post office workers or broken into post offices, which threatened the safety of such postal workers.
“The police will work to provide assistance during the election period to make sure that it is fairer, more transparent and free of foul play than ever before,” said Yoon Hee-keun, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency.
“The police will hold accountable those responsible for illegal acts that occur regarding the elections, even after the election period is over.”
According to the police agency, police officials who contribute to apprehending cases related to election crimes during the general election will receive a special promotion.
This special promotion will be awarded to police officials who gather information or take action against cases that may disrupt election proceedings, such as tampering with vote counts or interfering with the delivery of ballot boxes.
The police agency’s recent move comes as there has been an increase in incidents of individuals attempting to install illegal cameras in polling stations before early voting.
On Mar. 28, a suspect in his 40s was apprehended for allegedly installing cameras at polling stations across the country, due to his alleged suspicion about the difference between the number of votes counted during early voting and election day, according to police.
Another man was also restrained by election officials at a polling station in Incheon before early voting started on Friday after trying to install a camera inside the polling station to monitor the number of voters.
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