[Politics & Diplomacy] General Election 2024: Overseas voter registration due by Feb. 10
2024총선: 재외 유권자 등록 2월 10일까지 마쳐야
Now, a little over 60 days remain until the 22nd general election here in South Korea.
And for some 2-million Koreans living overseas who are eligible to vote, this week is the last chance to complete voter registration.
To talk more about overseas voting, we have our National Assembly correspondent Lee Shi-hoo here with us.
Welcome, Shi-hoo.
Hi, Jungmin.
Hi, so tell us about the overseas voting process for Koreans abroad.
Sure, so overseas voting was once a long-anticipated wish for many Koreans living abroad.
They actually earned the right back in 2012, after filing a petition to the constitutional court.
Now, Korean citizens without a permanent address in Korea can vote for proportional representatives in the Assembly.
Those with permanent addresses may vote for both proportional and regional lawmakers.
They can cast their vote at selected diplomatic offices abroad or alternate locations such as Korean community centers.
Eligible voters must register no later than 60 days before the actual voting day here in South Korea.
Then the actual voting will open for SIX DAYS any time between 14 to nine days before the voting day.
Right. But despite these options, I hear the overseas voter turnout is quite low.
Yes, in the general and presidential elections since 2012, only about ten percent of the total eligible overseas voters registered to vote.
Of those, only about 28 percent actually showed up to vote in past general elections.
According to the National Election Commission, overseas voters make up about 5 percent of the total number of eligible voters.
But considering how some lawmakers won by just zero-point-one percentage point in the last general election, the voters certainly can sway the election results.
What exactly is behind the relatively low turnout?
Well, multiple factors play into this.
For one, voting overseas is less convenient than voting in the country, as a political science professor will explain.
Listen in.
"There are practical constraints in overseas voting. Mail-in voting is not available, and polling stations are far away from where people live. There are also inconveniences in the voting process due to limited space, and also during voter registration. But the main inconvenience is that polling stations are located far away."
Despite these obstacles, the NEC is doing a lot to support its voters.
Since last October, it's installed an overseas election commission in 1-hundred-78 diplomatic offices around the world.
It has also dispatched attaches to help the voting process.
One of them is Mr. Kang Ho-sung working at the Korean embassy in Washington D.C.
Listen in to what he said.
"Currently, we are doing what we can to increase voter registration at each diplomatic office. We are actively promoting overseas voting through local Korean media and Korean communities. The U.S. Embassy in Washington, where I am, is accepting many registrations until the last minute. Registering online is the most convenient method, so we ask those overseas who haven't registered to vote to do so on the NEC website or by other methods by February 10th."
South Korea's NEC has employed a fast and convenient digital process for checking eligibility.
It can check whether a person is eligible to vote by a swift scan of the passport and resident registration numbers on its digital data system.
What do the lawmakers at the National Assembly say about voters overseas?
How are they supporting voters and also gaining their support in return?
Both the rival parties are strongly encouraging overseas Koreans to go out and cast their votes.
We had a written interview with lawmaker Kim Seok-ki of the ruling People Power Party who also heads the party's committee for overseas Koreans.
He wrote that every vote matters and that the PPP will continue to "lead the improvement of the overseas election system."
He also said that the Assembly is discussing many plans for improvement and that the revision of the law to install more polling stations abroad could improve accessibility.
Kim highlighted that active participation from these voters would facilitate further related discussions in the future.
The main opposition Democratic Party also notes the importance of overseas voters.
Let's listen in to DP lawmaker Lee Yong-sun, who leads the Democratic Congress of Global Koreans....
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2024-02-07, 18:00 (KST)
2024총선: 재외 유권자 등록 2월 10일까지 마쳐야
Now, a little over 60 days remain until the 22nd general election here in South Korea.
And for some 2-million Koreans living overseas who are eligible to vote, this week is the last chance to complete voter registration.
To talk more about overseas voting, we have our National Assembly correspondent Lee Shi-hoo here with us.
Welcome, Shi-hoo.
Hi, Jungmin.
Hi, so tell us about the overseas voting process for Koreans abroad.
Sure, so overseas voting was once a long-anticipated wish for many Koreans living abroad.
They actually earned the right back in 2012, after filing a petition to the constitutional court.
Now, Korean citizens without a permanent address in Korea can vote for proportional representatives in the Assembly.
Those with permanent addresses may vote for both proportional and regional lawmakers.
They can cast their vote at selected diplomatic offices abroad or alternate locations such as Korean community centers.
Eligible voters must register no later than 60 days before the actual voting day here in South Korea.
Then the actual voting will open for SIX DAYS any time between 14 to nine days before the voting day.
Right. But despite these options, I hear the overseas voter turnout is quite low.
Yes, in the general and presidential elections since 2012, only about ten percent of the total eligible overseas voters registered to vote.
Of those, only about 28 percent actually showed up to vote in past general elections.
According to the National Election Commission, overseas voters make up about 5 percent of the total number of eligible voters.
But considering how some lawmakers won by just zero-point-one percentage point in the last general election, the voters certainly can sway the election results.
What exactly is behind the relatively low turnout?
Well, multiple factors play into this.
For one, voting overseas is less convenient than voting in the country, as a political science professor will explain.
Listen in.
“There are practical constraints in overseas voting. Mail-in voting is not available, and polling stations are far away from where people live. There are also inconveniences in the voting process due to limited space, and also during voter registration. But the main inconvenience is that polling stations are located far away.”
Despite these obstacles, the NEC is doing a lot to support its voters.
Since last October, it’s installed an overseas election commission in 1-hundred-78 diplomatic offices around the world.
It has also dispatched attaches to help the voting process.
One of them is Mr. Kang Ho-sung working at the Korean embassy in Washington D.C.
Listen in to what he said.
“Currently, we are doing what we can to increase voter registration at each diplomatic office. We are actively promoting overseas voting through local Korean media and Korean communities. The U.S. Embassy in Washington, where I am, is accepting many registrations until the last minute. Registering online is the most convenient method, so we ask those overseas who haven’t registered to vote to do so on the NEC website or by other methods by February 10th.”
South Korea’s NEC has employed a fast and convenient digital process for checking eligibility.
It can check whether a person is eligible to vote by a swift scan of the passport and resident registration numbers on its digital data system.
What do the lawmakers at the National Assembly say about voters overseas?
How are they supporting voters and also gaining their support in return?
Both the rival parties are strongly encouraging overseas Koreans to go out and cast their votes.
We had a written interview with lawmaker Kim Seok-ki of the ruling People Power Party who also heads the party’s committee for overseas Koreans.
He wrote that every vote matters and that the PPP will continue to “lead the improvement of the overseas election system.”
He also said that the Assembly is discussing many plans for improvement and that the revision of the law to install more polling stations abroad could improve accessibility.
Kim highlighted that active participation from these voters would facilitate further related discussions in the future.
The main opposition Democratic Party also notes the importance of overseas voters.
Let’s listen in to DP lawmaker Lee Yong-sun, who leads the Democratic Congress of Global Koreans….
#NationalAssembly #General_election #Overseas_voter #Overseas_Korean #Registration #국회 #총선 #재외_유권자 #등록 #Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스
📣 Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/arirangtvnews
📣 Twitter : https://twitter.com/arirangtvnews
📣 Homepage : https://v2.arirang.com/
2024-02-07, 18:00 (KST)
English
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