[News Today] 8 ballots per voter in June 3 Election

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Ballot printing for the June 3 local elections began yesterday in most parts of the country. In this election, each voter will receive up to eight ballots. We explain what each ballot is for, and what voters should watch for, including possible candidate unifications.

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A rapidly running printing machine releases a stack of paper.

These are ballots to elect proportional representatives of the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Council in the June 3 local elections.

The ballot is longer than 30 centimeters with 20 political parties listed.

At polling stations, voters will receive up to eight ballots like such.

Metropolitan and provincial government heads like governors, and municipal and provincial superintendents of education.

Local government heads like district office chiefs, metropolitan and provincial councilors and district, city and county councilors.

On top of that, proportional members of metropolitan and provincial councils and proportional members of district, city and county councils. There are basically seven ballots to begin with.

In regions where parliamentary by-elections are held, voters will receive one more ballot and the total number will be eight.

To prevent confusion, each ballot is printed in a different color.

Nam Jong-soo / Nat’l Election Commission

Voters must mark only one candidate or party on each ballot. If two candidates are marked, it will be invalid.

Until just before the voting, it is also necessary to check whether candidacy mergers have occurred.

This is why the day before ballot printing is regarded as the first deadline for candidate unification. But little progress has been made in single candidacy talks in major regions.

For early voting, ballots are printed on-site. So if a candidate withdraws the bid and drops out of the race, the word 'withdrawn' is printed on ballots.