Gangdong-gu (Mayor: Lee Hae-sik) enforced a “polling place civil rights impact assessment” targeted at seventeen advance polling places for six days beginning on April 20. With the 7th South Korean local elections coming up on June 13, Gangdong-gu is taking such measures to ensure that there are no inconveniences for the disabled, the elderly and those who need assistance with walking to exercise their voting rights.

The civil rights impact assessment is a system of examination of factors that may result in civil rights violations of all citizens before a main policy or system is put in force. In order to guarantee the right to vote of those who need assistance with walking in preparation for the upcoming local elections, Gangdong-gu executed a civil rights impact assessment upon the selection of polling places.

 The National Election Commission will install polling places in the first floors of buildings or in buildings with elevators, install temporary polling booths in case where a building is difficult to secure and post helpers so that there are no hindrances during the voting process. There have been previous cases of the disabled who need assistance with walking and the elderly experiencing difficulties accessing polling places due to steep roads, stairs and the physical environments.

 Gangdong-gu will organize an evaluation group consisting of six individuals including an official of the civil rights investigation team from the Audit and Inspection Division and evaluate seventeen advance polling places for six days beginning April 20. The group visited these sites and closely observed and inspected the ▲ approachability of the polling place surroundings, ▲ available access of restrooms for the disabled, and ▲ existing obstacles at the entrances and exits of the polling places to check for any factors that may be of inconvenience to voters.

 The results of the inspections showed that nine among the seventeen advance polling places that were difficult to access were to install temporary polling places for the convenience of citizens, and five among the nine fell short in their accessibility due to steep roads and cars parked at the entrance and exits of the advance polling places. The majority of the advance polling places had restrooms available for the disabled, yet, access was impossible due to the installment of stairs only and proved uncomfortable for use due to the fact that more than 50% of these restrooms were unisex restrooms. Gangdong-gu forwarded the inspection results to the appropriate divisions and the National Election Commission and advised them to give consideration to those who need assistance with walking.

Mayor Lee Hae-sik stated, “There are cases when the disabled and the elderly have difficulty voting or even have to give up voting because of inaccessibility to polling places. We will do our best to take this into consideration and post helpers at each polling place so that all citizens can exercise their valuable votes without difficulty.”

  <Related Photos>

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  Polling place inspection photo 1

  

  Polling place inspection photo 2

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