A group of civic and labor activists held a rally in front of the National Assembly last week demanding measures to more effectively guarantee suffrage for all voters. They called for designating a national election day as a paid holiday and expanding voting hours, which have been set from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. since 1971. Polling times for parliamentary and local by-elections were stretched by two hours to 8 p.m. in 2004.
The rally came at a delicate time when parties are confronting each other over whether to extend voting hours with less than three months to go before the Dec. 19 presidential election. The main opposition Democratic United Party is pushing to change the election law to allow voters to cast their ballots by 9 p.m., while the ruling Saenuri Party remains lukewarm about the idea.
Behind their different positions are apparently political considerations on the impact extended voting hours would have on the chances in the election. The DUP believes that prolonging polling times would lead more working-class and younger voters to go to the polls. Such expectations, in turn, put the conservative Saenuri Party off changing election rules in a way that would mainly benefit the opposition bloc.
Previous presidential elections have shown that a higher turnout favors left-leaning contenders. Liberal candidates Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun won the 1997 and 2002 polls, in which 80.7 percent and 70.8 percent of voters cast their ballots, respectively. In the 2007 election won by Lee Myung-bak, a conservative former corporate executive, the voter turnout remained at 63 percent. The different rates were attributed mainly to how enthusiastic younger people were about voting.
The neck-and-neck race among the major contenders for the upcoming presidential poll makes the issue of voting hours more sensitive, as a slight change in the turnout of a specific electoral group could decide the election outcome. According to an opinion poll conducted this week, Rep. Park Geun-hye, the Saenuri nominee, closely trailed or led her two liberal rivals ― former software mogul Ahn Cheol-soo, who is running as an independent, and DUP candidate Rep. Moon Jae-in ― in a two-way matchup within the margin of error.
Moon, who has nearly caught up with Park with 46.1 percent to 46.4 percent, recently said he “cannot understand why the Saenuri Party opposes extending voting hours.” Ahn, with a lead of 47.4 percent to 44.7 percent over Park, also expressed his view through his spokesman’s office that voting times should be prolonged to “enable just even one more person to vote.” Park has yet to make public her stance on the matter.
Whether to expand voting hours is apparently a question that should be approached from the viewpoint of how to provide people with more opportunities to vote, aside from political calculations. Last week’s rally might have been arranged partly to help strengthen the case for the liberal opposition party. But due consideration needs to be given to the argument that many workers at private-sector workplaces, especially irregular laborers, have difficulty finding time to go to the polls as they are often made to work as usual from early morning till late evening on an election day. According to a study conducted last year, 64.1 percent of the irregular workers who didn’t vote in the 2008 parliamentary election attributed their failure to do so to their working conditions.
Though it may be implausible to make it mandatory for all workers to go off duty on a national polling day, which is designated by law as temporary holiday, there appears to be no serious problem with extending voting times by a few hours.
As grounds for their cautious approach, Saenuri officials cite insufficient consultation, possible confusion due to sudden change of rules and increase in election management costs. But such reasons are hardly likely to persuade the public.
In a recent report to the ruling party, the National Election Commission estimated the additional cost for extending polling times of a nationwide election by two hours at about 10 billion won ($8.98 million). The extra expenditure, however, could be justified if it results in boosting the turnout even by a slight rate and thus helping enhance the representativeness of an election winner. It might have to be reminded that in many advanced countries, elections are usually held on Sundays and polling booths close at between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Considering the ruling party has no room for concession, it is unlikely that voting hours will be expanded in time for the upcoming presidential election. If so, the political parties are still urged to work out an agreement on extending voting times after the December vote. No one could say that there will never be a time when the conservative party will want more working-class and younger voters to go to the polls.
