Constitutional Court of Korea Rules Early Voting System Constitutional...“Does Not Infringe on Voting Rights”

[Financial News] The Constitutional Court of Korea has, for the first time, ruled that the early voting system—which allows voters who are unable to vote on election day to cast their ballots in advance—does not violate the Constitution. The Court found that even if early voters have less time to access information about candidates compared to those voting on election day, they can still obtain sufficient information through other means, so their voting rights are not infringed.
According to legal sources on the 26th, the Constitutional Court of Korea unanimously dismissed a constitutional complaint against Articles 148(1) and 158(1) of the Public Official Election Act on the 23rd.
These provisions stipulate that the early voting period runs for two days starting five days before election day, and allow any voter to cast their ballot at an early voting station during this period.
The petitioners, including Lee Ho-sun, a professor at Kookmin University Law School, filed a constitutional complaint in October 2023, claiming that the current early voting system infringes on the rights to vote and equality. They argued that holding elections under different conditions for early voters and election day voters creates a disparity in the value of votes.
Regarding the legislative intent of the early voting system, the Constitutional Court of Korea stated, 'It aims to overcome temporal and spatial limitations of voting, ease the burden of the previous absentee voting system, provide convenience for voters, and ensure opportunities to exercise voting rights, thereby increasing voter turnout.'
The Court further noted, 'While early voters may have less time than election day voters to obtain information about candidates or deliberate on their choices, this does not reach a level that would prevent voters’ intentions from being properly reflected in the election.'
The Constitutional Court of Korea also considered that the pre-candidate registration system allows for certain campaign activities, and that during the official campaign period, voters can access ample information about candidates and policies through various media, including the press and the internet.
Additionally, the Court stated, 'The interval between early voting and election day has been shortened compared to the previous absentee voting system, institutional measures exist to ensure fairness, and considering geographic and postal conditions, it cannot be said that limiting early voting to four days before election day exceeds the legislature’s reasonable discretion. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude that the early voting provisions infringe on the petitioners’ voting rights.'
The Court also rejected the petitioners’ claim that 'the overall voter turnout is declining, so the early voting system is not contributing to the goal of increasing voting convenience.' The Court explained, 'It is difficult to conclude that early voting has no effect on overall turnout based solely on simple turnout trends, and it cannot be ruled out that, without early voting, the overall turnout might have decreased even more.'
The petitioners also argued that Article 158(3) of the Public Official Election Act, which requires ballots to be issued to voters without removing the serial number, violates the principle of secret ballot. However, the Constitutional Court of Korea, in line with previous decisions, unanimously dismissed this claim as well.
In October 2023, the Court found that the barcode serial numbers are not easily identifiable by the naked eye and do not violate the principle of secret ballot to the extent that a specific voter’s ballot could be identified. The Court also noted that, under the current system, barcodes are managed to ensure that they do not contain personally identifiable information.

scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter