Rival parties divided on extending voting time

Assembly Voice looks into key issues and controversial bills through a series of interviews with rival lawmakers who lead the legislative debate at the National Assembly. ― Ed.


A declining voter turnout is a problem in many established democracies. In the United States, for instance, the voter turnout has dropped since the 1960s, albeit with slight fluctuations.

In South Korea, the same has been occurring. The voting rate for the past five presidential elections dropped from 89.2 percent in 1987 when direct voting was revived, to 63 percent in 2007.

Amid prospects that the turnout will further plunge in this year’s presidential election on Dec. 19, the main opposition Democratic United Party has started to seek measures to encourage more people to vote by extending the voting time.

Under the Public Official Election Act, balloting hours are from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Balloting closes at 8 p.m. in by-elections. Election days, such as for president and the National Assembly, are stipulated by presidential decree as legal holidays for public offices and thus are not compulsory holidays for private businesses. The Labor Standards Act enables balloting within working hours by stipulating that an employer cannot reject a request from a worker to grant time necessary to exercise their civil rights during working hours.

The DUP’s move, however, quickly led to politically-charged wrangling with the ruling Saenuri Party, which remains adamantly opposed.

The Saenuri Party argues the voter turnout is low because of voter fatigue. Contending that Korea’s voting hours are comparable to the international average, it suggests fixing other technical problems such as distribution of polling stations.

The DUP claims the Saenuri Party is afraid that younger people ― who tend to be more supportive of the progressive opposition ― will come out and vote. The DUP is pushing for reform in full force, establishing a special task force on Oct. 2 to work on extending the voting hours.

Observers note that low voter turnout derives from a complicated mixture of causes and that the parties should tackle the issue multi-dimensionally.

High voter turnout is considered important to prove the legitimacy of the system, but a low voting rate may also demonstrate that voters are content with the leading or likely winner in the case of a lopsided race.

Other factors that can affect voter turnout include: indifference to politics; lack of salience among the rivaling parties and their pledges; habitual non-voters; education and economic levels of individuals; one or more weak candidates against a strong contender; demographic characteristics, as older people tend to vote more; and the ease of voting, such as the registration process.


Alleviating voter fatigue is more crucial than extending hours

The ruling Saenuri Party argues that the decreasing voter turnout in South Korea derives mostly from voter fatigue, not limited balloting hours.

“The Saenuri Party deems that the low voting rate at the last presidential election came from other causes such as the people’s distrust of politics,” said Rep. Lee Cheol-woo, the party’s floor spokesman.

The conservative party believes that it is therefore more important to figure out what other causes are, rather than pushing to extend the voting time two months ahead of the presidential election.

“If the logic (of the main opposition Democratic United Party) is that extending the balloting hours will raise the voter turnout, how is it different from some random idea that a 24-hour balloting hour should be introduced,” Lee said.

The Saenuri Party cites the balloting hours of other countries to demonstrate that Korea’s voting hours are appropriate.

France, Germany and Australia, for instance, hold elections for 10 hours, while the average balloting hours for the United States is 12 hours, the same as Korea, Lee said.

“There must be due reason if such developed countries that have experienced democracy for a long period of time show lower voter turnout than Korea but still do not extend voting hours,” Lee said.

The Saenuri Party’s stated main reason for opposing an extension is that a revision right before the presidential election would cause confusion.

Arguing that the election rules should be reviewed on a longer term basis, Lee said the party would also continue to work on better guaranteeing political rights of those working in small and mid-sized businesses or irregular workers who find it harder to cast their votes during their work hours.

“It is more urgent to solve technical problems such as redistributing polling stations and expanding absentee voting. Attempting to solve the problem by extending the time is simply a strategic trick (by the DUP) ahead of the presidential election,” Lee said.

Alleviating voter fatigue is more crucial than extending hours

The ruling Saenuri Party argues that the decreasing voter turnout in South Korea derives mostly from voter fatigue, not limited balloting hours.

“The Saenuri Party deems that the low voting rate at the last presidential election came from other causes such as the people’s distrust of politics,” said Rep. Lee Cheol-woo, the party’s floor spokesman.

The conservative party believes that it is therefore more important to figure out what other causes are, rather than pushing to extend the voting time two months ahead of the presidential election.

“If the logic (of the main opposition Democratic United Party) is that extending the balloting hours will raise the voter turnout, how is it different from some random idea that a 24-hour balloting hour should be introduced,” Lee said.

The Saenuri Party cites the balloting hours of other countries to demonstrate that Korea’s voting hours are appropriate.

France, Germany and Australia, for instance, hold elections for 10 hours, while the average balloting hours for the United States is 12 hours, the same as Korea, Lee said.

“There must be due reason if such developed countries that have experienced democracy for a long period of time show lower voter turnout than Korea but still do not extend voting hours,” Lee said.

The Saenuri Party’s stated main reason for opposing an extension is that a revision right before the presidential election would cause confusion.

Arguing that the election rules should be reviewed on a longer term basis, Lee said the party would also continue to work on better guaranteeing political rights of those working in small and mid-sized businesses or irregular workers who find it harder to cast their votes during their work hours.

“It is more urgent to solve technical problems such as redistributing polling stations and expanding absentee voting. Attempting to solve the problem by extending the time is simply a strategic trick (by the DUP) ahead of the presidential election,” Lee said.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)


[Saenuri] Alleviating voter fatigue is more crucial than extending hours

The ruling Saenuri Party argues that the decreasing voter turnout in South Korea derives mostly from voter fatigue, not limited balloting hours.

“The Saenuri Party deems that the low voting rate at the last presidential election came from other causes such as the people’s distrust of politics,” said Rep. Lee Cheol-woo, the party’s floor spokesman.

The conservative party believes that it is therefore more important to figure out what other causes are, rather than pushing to extend the voting time two months ahead of the presidential election.

“If the logic (of the main opposition Democratic United Party) is that extending the balloting hours will raise the voter turnout, how is it different from some random idea that a 24-hour balloting hour should be introduced,” Lee said.

The Saenuri Party cites the balloting hours of other countries to demonstrate that Korea’s voting hours are appropriate.

France, Germany and Australia, for instance, hold elections for 10 hours, while the average balloting hours for the United States is 12 hours, the same as Korea, Lee said.

“There must be due reason if such developed countries that have experienced democracy for a long period of time show lower voter turnout than Korea but still do not extend voting hours,” Lee said.

The Saenuri Party’s stated main reason for opposing an extension is that a revision right before the presidential election would cause confusion.

Arguing that the election rules should be reviewed on a longer term basis, Lee said the party would also continue to work on better guaranteeing political rights of those working in small and mid-sized businesses or irregular workers who find it harder to cast their votes during their work hours.

“It is more urgent to solve technical problems such as redistributing polling stations and expanding absentee voting. Attempting to solve the problem by extending the time is simply a strategic trick (by the DUP) ahead of the presidential election,” Lee said.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)


[DUP] Voting hour extension is the most cost-efficient solution

The extension of the voting hours is the most cost-effective way to boost the voter turnout and promote participatory democracy, Rep. Jin Sun-mee of the main opposition Democratic United Party says.

The first-term lawmaker has submitted to the parliamentary committee on public administration and security a bill to extend the finish time for polling by two hours, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., but was met with Saenuri resistance.

“The ruling Saenuri Party claims that the revision is inadequate as half of the people are negative over the idea, but this logic is flawed,” Jin said.

The Saenuri’s floor spokesperson Rep. Lee Cheol-woo, in a counterargument, had cited a public survey conducted by local pollster Gallup Korea, in which 50 percent of the respondents answered against the extension and 48 percent in favor of it.

“This is not about a conflict of two opposing rights,” she explained.

“What the corresponding survey really indicates is that almost half of the population feels that the current voting hour system is insufficient and inconvenient.”

The voting hour extension would be a crucial political innovation for them, while inflicting no harm upon the rights of the other skeptical half, she said.

The lawmaker also accused the NEC of exaggerating the estimated costs to hold back the DUP bill.

The election watchdog reported earlier that the two-hour extension would require an additional budget of 10 billion won ($9 million).

“The NEC’s estimate was, however, based on an unnecessary double-shift and a list of excessive expenses, such as allocating four meals per official during their 14-hour duty,” Jin said.

According to her analysis, the actual cost needed for the two-hour extension would be about 4.8 billion won.

“This is much lower than the 10.9 billion won publicity budget spent to up the voter turnout in the last presidential election,” she said.

“The NEC should have no reason to disapprove of this cost-efficient plan.”

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)