🚨 Election Officials: Key Personnel Protecting Democracy in Elections

Today Korean Social News | 2025.05.31

📌 Chaos at Early Voting Sites…Election Management 'Problems' Spread

💬 During the 21st Presidential Election early voting from May 29-30, confusion occurred at early voting sites nationwide. At the Sinchon-dong early voting site in Seoul's Seodaemun-gu, there were suspicions of ballot paper removal. In Daechi 2-dong, Gangnam-gu, an election official was caught trying to vote using her husband's ID card. In Gimpo and Bucheon cities in Gyeonggi Province, last year's general election ballot papers were found in voting boxes. The National Election Commission admitted management failures and issued a public apology. Meanwhile, some groups claiming election fraud have been damaging ballot boxes and breaking into election commission buildings, raising concerns about election fairness and safety.

Summary

• Election officials are key personnel who manage voting stations and handle vote counting for fair and smooth elections.
• They perform important roles throughout the election process including vote management, counting work, and voter verification.
• Recent misconduct by some election officials has raised the need for improving election management systems.

1️⃣ Definition

Election officials are people who manage voting stations, handle vote counting, and oversee election operations to ensure fair and smooth elections. They play a crucial role in making sure elections, which are the foundation of democracy, are conducted transparently and accurately.

Election officials work not only on election day but also during early voting and vote counting processes, and they have important responsibilities to guarantee the reliability and fairness of elections.

💡 Why is this important?

• They are frontline workers who directly guarantee election fairness and transparency.
• They help voters exercise their voting rights and contribute to democracy.
• They prevent and monitor possible fraud during elections.
• They ensure reliable election results through accurate vote counting.

2️⃣ Types and Roles of Election Officials

📕 Types of Election Officials

• Election officials are divided into several types based on their duties. Main types include:

  • Voting Officials: Officials who manage voting at polling stations. They include polling station chiefs, voting managers, and voting observers.
  • Vote Counting Officials: Officials who handle vote counting at counting centers. They include counting managers, counting officials, and counting observers.
  • Early Voting Officials: Officials who manage early voting at early voting sites.
  • Absentee Voting Officials: Officials who manage absentee voting.
  • Election Management Officials: Government workers who handle overall election duties at election commissions.

• Each official has clear roles and responsibilities. Main roles include:

  • Polling Station Chief: Oversees all polling station operations and ensures fair voting.
  • Voting Manager: Handles ballot distribution, ballot box management, and maintains voting order.
  • Counting Manager: Ensures accuracy and fairness of counting work and manages the counting process.
  • Observers: Sent by political parties or candidates to monitor voting and counting processes.

📕 Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Voting-related duties are core responsibilities. Main duties include:

  • Setting up and operating polling stations: Checking polling facilities, preparing voting materials, and creating voting environments.
  • Voter verification: Checking IDs, comparing with voter lists, and confirming voting rights.
  • Ballot distribution: Giving ballots to eligible voters and explaining voting methods.
  • Maintaining voting order: Keeping order in polling stations, ensuring voting secrecy, and preventing fraud.
  • Ballot box management: Sealing, transporting, and storing ballot boxes safely.

• Vote counting duties are also important. Counting duties include:

  • Counting preparation: Setting up counting centers, preparing counting materials, and creating counting environments.
  • Opening ballot boxes: Opening ballot boxes and taking out ballot papers.
  • Sorting ballot papers: Accurately sorting ballot papers by candidate and party.
  • Vote tallying: Accurately calculating and tallying votes for each candidate and party.
  • Recording counting results: Writing counting records and preparing counting result reports.

📕 Qualifications and Selection Process

• There are qualification requirements to become an election official. Main requirements include:

  • Must be a Korean citizen aged 18 or older.
  • Residents of the relevant electoral district are given priority.
  • Must maintain political neutrality by not being a party member or supporting specific candidates.
  • Must have no history of punishment for election law violations.
  • Must have good character to perform duties fairly and faithfully.

• There is a systematic selection and training process. The selection process includes:

  • Job posting: Election commissions post job announcements for election officials.
  • Application submission: Qualified applicants submit applications.
  • Review and selection: Qualified candidates are selected through qualification checks and interviews.
  • Pre-training: Selected officials receive job training and legal education.
  • Assignment and duty performance: Officials are assigned to polling stations or counting centers to perform duties.

Main Rules for Election Officials

1. Political neutrality: Prohibition of supporting or opposing specific parties or candidates
2. Maintaining job confidentiality: Prohibition of leaking information learned through work
3. Fair job performance: Treating all voters equally and handling work fairly
4. Following laws: Strictly following election-related laws including the Public Official Election Act
5. Maintaining dignity: Maintaining dignity and trustworthiness as election officials

3️⃣ Recent Issues and Problems

✅ Cases of Poor Election Management

• Several cases of poor management occurred in recent elections. Main cases include:

  • Ballot paper removal suspicions: Suspicions were raised that ballot papers were taken outside from some polling stations.
  • Attempted proxy voting: An election official was caught trying to vote using a family member's ID.
  • Discovery of old ballot papers: Previous election ballot papers were found in new ballot boxes, showing careless management.
  • Poor polling station operation: Some polling stations experienced extended waiting times and confusion due to inexperienced work.

• It's necessary to analyze the causes of these problems. Main causes include:

  • Lack of training: Pre-training and preparation for election officials seemed insufficient.
  • Poor supervision: Management and supervision during voting and counting processes were not adequate.
  • System deficiencies: Weaknesses in voting material management and storage systems were revealed.
  • Staff shortage: Proper staff assignment and role distribution were not implemented.
  • Lack of responsibility: Some officials lacked responsibility and ethical awareness.

✅ Improvement Plans and Measures

• Election management system improvement is needed. Main improvement plans include:

  • Strengthening training programs: Systematic and practical training for election officials should be expanded.
  • Improving manuals: Situation-specific response manuals should be detailed and made easier for staff to understand.
  • Strengthening monitoring systems: Monitoring and inspection systems during voting and counting should be strengthened.
  • Technology adoption: Technical supplements like expanded CCTV installation and electronic management systems should be prepared.
  • Stronger punishment: Punishment for election official misconduct should be strengthened to raise awareness.

• Strengthening election official capabilities is also important. Capability enhancement plans include:

  • Improving expertise: Opportunities to gain professional knowledge and experience in election work should be provided.
  • Strengthening ethics education: Ethics education about the importance of fairness and neutrality should be strengthened.
  • Improving work environment: Responsibility should be increased through appropriate compensation and work environment improvements.
  • Career management: A career management system to continuously utilize excellent election officials is needed.
  • Strengthening communication: Communication among officials and with election commissions should be strengthened.

4️⃣ Related Terms

🔎 Election Commission

• The Election Commission is a constitutional body that manages elections fairly.
• The Election Commission is a constitutional body responsible for fair management of various elections including presidential elections, National Assembly elections, and local elections, as well as national referendums. It consists of the National Election Commission, city/provincial election commissions, and district/city/county election commissions.
• Main roles of the Election Commission include: First, fair management and supervision of elections. Second, political party registration and political fund management. Third, investigation and punishment of election law violations. Fourth, voter education and election promotion.
• The Election Commission is guaranteed political neutrality and independence, managing elections only according to law and conscience without any political influence. Election officials are personnel who handle practical work under the direction and supervision of such election commissions.

🔎 Voting Observer

• Voting observers monitor and verify the voting process.
• Voting observers are people sent by political parties or candidates to observe and monitor the voting process at polling stations. They serve as a check and balance mechanism to ensure voting fairness and transparency.
• Main roles of voting observers include: First, observing the entire voting process and monitoring for fraud. Second, confirming that ballot distribution and ballot box management are conducted legally. Third, raising objections to polling station chiefs when problems are found. Fourth, participating in ballot box sealing after voting ends.
• To become a voting observer, one must receive recommendations from relevant parties or candidates and report to the election commission. Voting observers contribute to increasing election reliability through their role of cooperating with and checking election officials.

🔎 Early Voting

• Early voting is a system that allows voting before election day.
• Early voting is a system that allows voters who have difficulty voting on election day to vote in advance. First introduced in 2014, it is now implemented in all elections.
• Main features of early voting include: First, voting is possible anywhere nationwide, even outside one's residence area. Second, it is conducted for 2 days, from 5 days before election day. Third, voting is possible with just an ID card without separate registration. Fourth, the voting process is the same as election day voting.
• Separate early voting officials are assigned to early voting sites to handle duties. They perform tasks including voter verification, ballot printing, and voting management using the national voter list system, and like regular voting officials, they have the responsibility to ensure fairness and accuracy.

5️⃣ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: What qualifications are needed to become an election official, and how can I apply?

A: Basic qualifications to become an election official require being a Korean citizen aged 18 or older. However, for political neutrality, you must not be a party member and must not publicly support specific candidates. Also, you must have no history of punishment for election law violations and must have good character to perform duties fairly and faithfully. To apply, when election commissions post job announcements before elections, you can submit applications during the specified period. Since residents of the relevant electoral district are usually given priority, you can contact your local election commission for detailed information. If selected, you'll receive pre-training where you'll learn specific methods and rules for voting and counting duties. Working as an election official can be a meaningful experience of directly participating in democracy as a citizen.

Q: What punishment do election officials face for misconduct?

A: Election official misconduct is severely punished as a serious crime that undermines the foundation of democracy. According to the Public Official Election Act, election officials who damage or take ballot papers, engage in or help with proxy voting, or manipulate voting results face up to 3 years in prison or fines up to 5 million won. Particularly, deliberately manipulating vote counts or falsely writing counting records during counting can result in heavier punishment. Also, receiving guilty verdicts for such crimes becomes grounds for disqualification from government positions and prevents future work as election officials. Recently, systems to detect misconduct have been strengthened through expanded CCTV installation and stronger observer systems, making it highly likely that fraud attempts will be discovered. Since election officials play important roles in protecting citizens' precious voting rights, they must always maintain fairness and transparency while following laws.