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A voter casts her ballot with her child at a polling station in Gwangju, Wednesday. (Yonhap) |
South Koreans on Wednesday went to the polls for the 2024 general election, selecting the lawmakers to represent them in the 22nd National Assembly.
With stakes running high, a number of incidents at polling stations across the country were reported. Here are a few of the events that took place on the election day.
Father disapproves of daughter's vote, tears up ballot
A 52-year-old man and his 22-year-old daughter went to a polling station in Samhak-dong, Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, at around 10:50 a.m. When the daughter emerged from the booth with a ballot paper in her hand, the father took a look at the paper and accused her of "voting for the wrong candidate," then tore it apart.
Officials at Gunsan's election committee invalidated the young woman's vote, and are mulling filing charges against the father. The Public Official Election Act bans anyone from damaging a ballot paper, and specifies that such act can be punished by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of 30 million won ($22,000).
Frustrated woman rips mother's ballot paper
Another case of a ballot paper being damaged occurred in the city of Gwangju.
A woman in her 50s accompanied her elderly mother to visit the polling station in Gyerim 2-dong in Dong-gu, Gwangju, at around 6:50 a.m. When the mother asked her daughter how to vote, she went inside the booth to help her.
But the daughter was accused of infringing upon the anonymity of the vote, and the election committee officials of the city invalidated the mother's vote since her daughter had seen the ballot paper. Infuriated, the woman tore apart her mother's ballot and went home.
Officials are reviewing whether to file charges against the woman.
Man broadcasts himself voting
A man in his 40s was caught broadcasting himself voting in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, at around 8:26 a.m., according to the Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency. He also showed viewers his ballot paper inside the polling booth, which is against the legal clause that bans filming inside the booth.
The violation is punishable by up to two years in prison or a fine of 4 million won. The man was taken by local police for an investigation.
YouTuber asked to leave after filming voters
A YouTuber was caught filming voters heading to the polls in Suwan-dong, Gwangju, at around 7:20 a.m., outside the station in question.
This action is not against the law, since he did not film inside a polling booth. But the YouTuber was asked to leave the premises by the election committee officials, who thought his actions could affect voters.
'My vote was cast? By who?'
A woman living in Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, accompanied her husband to vote at around 8:20 a.m. During the identification process, she was shocked to see that someone else had already signed for her ballot.
She initially thought someone else had used her driver's license to get her vote, since she lost the ID years before.
Election committee officials found that the ballot paper had actually been handed to another resident of the same name, who also happened to live in the same area.
After sorting out the situation, votes cast by both people will be counted.
