The chairperson of the National Election Commission(NEC) has offered an apology for the confusion and inconvenience experienced by voters during the early voting period of the 20th presidential election, pledging thorough preparation for the Election Day ahead. 

Addressing reporters on Tuesday, NEC Chairperson Noh Jeong-hee thanked the voters who had participated in early voting despite having tested positive for COVID-19, while expressing remorse to them as well as to voting center staff for inconveniences they experienced.

Noting that early voting drew a record-high 36-point-93 percent turnout despite the country seeing daily COVID-19 cases topping 200-thousand, Noh said that she could ascertain Koreans’ sense of sovereignty and will to vote.

Noh also said that the election watchdog is ready to see all eligible voters exercise their right to vote on Election Day, adding it would do its best until the very last moment, until all the votes are counted.

COVID-19 patients and those under mandatory quarantine had complained of long wait times when they went to vote on Saturday. They also raised concerns of possible electoral fraud, as their ballots were not submitted in the same ballot boxes as the general public. 

They were permitted to come to polling stations for early voting between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday but had to cast their ballots inside makeshift polling booths. Some of the votes collected from the booths were later carried via baskets and cardboard boxes to be manually combined with the ballots of general voters.