'Gu In-nan' National Election Commission... “I can’t hold an election like this.”

#B, who is in charge of the election of the city election commission in A city, has trouble sleeping these days because of concerns about the upcoming June 1 local elections. Voting officers should have already been appointed to work in the elections from the 2nd of this month, but they are struggling to secure manpower due to opposition from the union. Even if it is difficult to secure manpower, it is not the end. The training of polling officers directly conducted by the National Election Commission would be fine, but I am also concerned about whether the trained polling officers will be able to deliver work instructions to the polling clerks again. Some facility owners and managers are being denied renting a polling place because of the Corona 19 confirmed vote, and they are having difficulty securing a place.

The National Election Commission is having difficulties in securing the necessary electoral manpower to hold the nationwide simultaneous local elections on June 1, which is about 40 days away. In order for the election to proceed smoothly, the participation of local public officials, who have been in charge of core election affairs, is very necessary. However, due to the increasing difficulty of the job and the confusion of advance voting in the last presidential election, only criticizing public opinion flooded in.

The ‘election’ that supports democracy is the national ambassador and legal affairs, and for stable management, active cooperation from all sectors of society is required. The National Election Commission is trying to improve the treatment of election officials by raising wages compared to the previous election, and is also requesting active cooperation from the government to encourage the participation of local public officials.

According to the National Election Commission on the 14th, in the June 1 local election, a total of 391,600 people are required to manage the 3551 advance polling places, 14,465 polling places, and 256 polling places. For the advance voting to be held on May 27 and 28, about 7,100 voting officers and 97,000 voting clerks are required. The main voting on June 1 requires more than double the number of voters, including 14,500 voting officers and 180,000 voting clerks. The number of separate manpower required for the counting operation also reaches 93,000. Until now, election affairs have been virtually dependent on local officials. This is because there is a limit to being able to perform election affairs, which requires a lot of manpower, equipment, and facilities at once, with only about 3,000 NEC staff. Local public officials are evaluated as having a high understanding of election affairs and having experience and expertise in field administration close to the residents. An official from the National Election Commission said, “The constituency and voting districts are divided according to administrative districts, so the role of local public officials working in districts, cities, and counties and in units of eup, myeon, and dong in election management is inevitably large.”

The problem is that the participation rate of civil servants is gradually decreasing. In the 19th presidential election held in 2017, the proportion of local public officials among the manpower in charge of election affairs reached 63.2%. In the local elections held in 2018, it was lowered to 53.3%. In the previous presidential election in the 20s, it fell to less than half to 46.1%.

In particular, the polling officer, who is in charge of the 6th grade (chief-level) among local public officials, is known as the ‘flower’ of election affairs as it serves as the person in charge of the polling place. In addition to checking the ballot box for abnormalities, it is also responsible for responding to various incidents and accidents occurring at the site. Under the current law, voting officers are to be appointed from among national, local, and school officials. However, due to the low participation rate, as of March 31st, only 56% of the required voting officers were secured. An official from the local Election Commission said, “Compared to the participation in the party, if there is a mistake in the work, the responsibility such as disciplinary action is large, so it is inevitable to be passive in taking on the role of voting management.” In many parts of the election work, manual work is still required, because simple mistakes such as handing out ballot papers to a person with the same name by mistake or handing out two ballot papers to an elector are inevitable.

The burden grew as a member of a group who claimed allegations of election fraud without an accurate basis participated as a party-recommended observer. In particular, if you are in charge of advance voting, the difficulty of management is further aggravated. Computer equipment such as list terminals and ballot dispensers must be used, and emergency situations such as network failures and equipment errors must be dealt with. Since it is a human job, there is a constant possibility of making mistakes, but it can become a pretext for alleging election fraud or, in some cases, punishable under the Public Official Election Act.

An official from the National Election Commission said, “As most of the allegations of election fraud raised in recent elections are caused by misunderstandings stemming from simple mistakes in the process of procedural affairs, the need for local public officials with extensive experience in elections and administration is growing.” The appointed polling officer is in charge of the polling station and plays an important role not only in dealing with various incidents and accidents, but also in educating voters and observers.”

The National Election Commission also sympathized with the hard work and difficulties of local public officials after the last presidential election and began to actively improve their treatment. Voting officials in charge of early voting and voting clerks will pay 572,000 won and 452,000 won, respectively, by raising their allowances by 60,000 won from the previous election. Compared to the local elections held in 2018, voting officers rose 256,000 won and voting clerks 236,000 won, respectively. To revise the service ordinance to guarantee special leave for voting and counting workers, consultations are in progress with the National Council of Mayors/Do Governors and the heads of autonomous districts/Guns/Mayors. In addition, the commission rate of local public officials has been reduced and the workforce is being diversified to include national public officials and employees of public institutions.

The government also decided to cooperate with the National Election Commission so that local elections can proceed smoothly by holding a “local election support preparation status check meeting” on the 8th at the government complex in Seoul, chaired by Gu Yun-cheol, head of the Office of Government Policy Coordination. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security plans to ask local governments for cooperation in appointing election clerks, and to seek cooperation for support in areas where securing facilities is insufficient. The Ministry of Education decided to grant reward leave to election officials and to request cooperation from city and provincial offices of education in relation to the use of polling and counting places such as school facilities.

Prime Minister Kim Bu-gyeom, who presided over the State Council meeting on the 12th, said in a remark, “There was some confusion in the advance voting process as a separate vote for confirmed cases was introduced for the first time in the last presidential election, but the dedication and We were able to hold the election safely thanks to the active cooperation of the private sector,” he said.