South Korean court upholds fines for double‑voting in presidential election

Two voters who tried to cast a second ballot during South Korea’s 21st presidential election have had their appeals rejected and the original fines of 1 million won each confirmed. The appeals court said the actions violated the one‑person‑one‑vote principle, but noted that neither person actually received a ballot paper, so the election result was not affected.

The cases involved a woman in her 60s who voted at a pre‑election polling station in Goyang on May 29 and then attempted to vote again the next day in Hwaseong, and a man in his 20s who voted in Siheung on May 30 and tried to vote again on June 3 in Hwaseong. Both were found to have acted intentionally, and the court upheld the lower‑court penalties.

The rulings reinforce South Korea’s strict enforcement of election‑law violations, emphasizing the importance of the one‑vote rule even when the fraudulent votes did not reach the ballot box.