Today (10th), with the start of the preliminary voting for the 21st National Assembly election (April 15th), the 48.1cm proportional representation ballot was officially shown to domestic voters.

As it is a 'historic' ballot with the names of 35 political parties, it attracts attention in many ways, but there are also many questions about how to fold.

On the Internet, 'I think it's the first time I'm more concerned with folding paper', 'I'm trying to pre-vote, but when I fold the ballot after voting? From a post such as 'Horizontal?', 'It should be folded vertically, but it is invalid because it is folded horizontally.' If you don't, it won't fit in the envelope. Goodbye, there are a variety of posts that require a 'fact check' such as my invalid vote ㅜㅜ.

In addition, there is a photo showing how to fold the paper so that it does not touch the marked area, and there is also an 'unauthorized' notice that folds vertically because it may become invalid.

From the conclusion, it doesn't matter how you fold it.

If you claim to be invalid just because of the 'folding method' such as folding horizontally, it is not true.

Article 157 of the Public Officials 'Election Act, which contains the procedures for receiving and voting ballots, states,' After the voter receives the ballot, he enters the ballot box and selects one candidate (one party in the case of a proportional representative) in the ballot. After that, the contents of the vote must be folded invisibly and put in the ballot box in front of the voting observer. '

There is only a rule of 'fold invisible to others', but not a specific rule of how to fold.

In the media call today (10th), Secretary General Cho Seung-ho, the public affairs officer of the Central Election Management Committee, said, "There is no rule on how to fold". "If you fold it in half, it will not be visible (to others). "I don't give any guidance, such as folding."
"There is no need to be particularly involved in the voter's free will regarding how to fold the ballots (at the ballot site)," said Secretary Cho.

And since we use special ink that doesn't spread well, we don't have to worry about the situation where the voter is buried and invalid votes are processed during folding.

So how will votes made to the people in the polling place show who shot them? Article 167 of the Election Act, which stipulates the “security of ballots,” stipulates that 'elections cannot disclose their ballots and invalidate the ballots that have been released.'

However, it is a reality that voters do not invalidate until they see the result of voting by accidentally dropping the ballot.

Secretary-General Cho Seung-ho explained, "I see if there is a purposefulness or purpose."

It is to decide whether or not to show the ballot paper purposely, and to decide whether to invalidate it.

So what happens if you just put your ballot in the ballot box? In response to the inquiry, the Commission sent a reply stating, "It is valid to put the ballot in the ballot box without folding it, but it may become invalid if you deliberately disclose the ballot you marked so that others can know it."

If 'Intentional Ballot Release' is recognized and becomes 'Void Vote', how will the paper be processed? Officials of the NEC will take a rubber stamp engraved with the word 'public ballot' on the field and put it in the ballot box along with other valid ballots so that they can be finalized in the ballot process.

The reason not to discard immediately on site is that the number of people who voted must match the number of ballots.

(Photo = Yonhap News)