<Anchor> It is a
friendly economic time. Today (7th) will be with reporter Kim Hye-min. Hello, reporter Kim. It's election day today. So today I prepared a little talk about the elections and economic costs. (Did you vote in advance?) I voted in advance. Reporter Kim voted?
<Reporter>
I am going to do this during the day, and those who have the right to vote, please vote in the re-election today.
Voting rights are very valuable in themselves, but our taxes on elections are enormous.
The total cost of the re-election by the Election Commission announced in February was 93.2 billion won. Of these, as many as 88% go to Seoul and Busan, where the by-elections for the heads of regional governments are held.
It will cost 57 billion won to Seoul and 255.3 billion won to Busan. The term of office for these two elected candidates is only one year and two months until next June, and 82.4 billion won will be spent for this period.
<Anchor> It
costs 100 billion won. It's a lot of money, and this is all national taxes. However, in the case of this re-election, there are parties or parties that served as the cause. If so, then you can't claim them?
<Reporter>
Let's look at the regulations first. The state pays for the presidential or parliamentary elections, and the local governments run the elections for the heads of local governments.
So, for elections in Seoul and Busan, local government taxes have to cover the cost. In addition, the city of Seoul requested installment payments because it was difficult to secure the budget due to Corona 19 support.
So, why do you have to pay taxes for elections? This is because the constitution stipulates that "election expenses cannot be borne by political parties or candidates."
Although the idea that the opportunity to participate in politics should not be discriminated against depending on economic power, it is being misused.
Therefore, it is argued that the cause provider must bear the cost to prevent illegality during the election process or during the tenure of office.
In the meantime, laws with this content have been proposed several times, but they have been pending without much discussion and then discarded.
<Anchor> In the
end, elections are held with the taxes we pay. Then, I wonder if there is a way to conduct elections while saving the cost of the election, but recently, blockchain elections are receiving attention.
<Reporter> By
incorporating blockchain technology into elections, you do not have to pay enormous taxes as election expenses, as explained earlier.
The Central Election Commission has already been conducting an e-election project since 2018, and from last year, blockchain technology has been used in private group elections.
The key to electronic voting using blockchain is that it can ensure transparency and reliability so that it cannot be hacked or manipulated.
To explain this more easily, everyone involved in the election, including the voters and candidates, and the election committee, can know each other's existence and whether they vote on this blockchain.
In particular, we are developing a'public verification function' that allows voters to verify that my vote was well reflected in the election results.
It is said that many countries around the world, such as Spain, are also implementing or preparing to introduce electronic voting using blockchain technology.
<Anchor> In
Korea, there are small elections in which electronic votes are elected as representatives of apartment buildings, and they are already being operated on a trial basis in such places. But now it will take some time to extend this to the general election or the presidential election, right?
<Reporter>
I asked an expert directly for this part, but it is said that it is not too far from the speed of development right now. Listen for yourself.
[Sung-Jun Park/Director of Dongguk University Blockchain Research Institute: There is a speed of development of blockchain technology and additionally necessary cryptographic technology. Given the pace of technological advancement, I predict that it will be possible in 2025 or so.] The
problem is that even though information manipulation is impossible after voting, there is a risk of exposure to fraudulent elections during the voting process.
For example, if you vote with a smartphone without going to a polling place, you can do a ticketing act like "If you confirm that you are voting for a specific candidate, I will give you money".
This is an institutional problem. In addition, the elderly may have difficulty with electronic voting.
Although there are some homework left to do with technological advancement and institutional support that members of the society can trust, it seems that the day when blockchain technology will change the election and voting landscape has come a long way.