|
From 2008, people with disability and overseas Koreans will be able to vote online using their personal computers, mobile phones or PDAs, the National Election Committee (NEC) decided Monday.
The NEC aims for a "ubiquitous Internet ballot" that would allow all eligible voters to cast their ballot from anywhere in the world by 2012. Starting with the 18th parliamentary elections in 2008, all eligible voters will also be able to vote online nationwide, regardless of whether they are in their home district.
If things go as planned, voter participation rates would dramatically increase. But since the system could open the doors for more proxy voting and multiple voting, it will only go into operation once the NEC has found fraud-proof technical and systemic security measures.
In the 2008 general election the handicapped and those who must vote from home will be eligible. An additional 800,000 Koreans living abroad may also be able to vote online if election laws are changed. The NEC also plans to put into an early balloting system in place the same year that would allow voting a week ahead of election day.
(Lee Myeong-jin, mjlee.chosun.com)
|
