The main voting to elect the 21st president began at 6 a.m. on the 3rd at 14,295 polling stations nationwide. The number of voters for this election is 44,391,871. Of this, 34.74% (15,423,607) participated in early voting from the 29th to the 30th.
The main voting for this presidential election will take place for 14 hours until 8 p.m. Unlike early voting, voting can only be done at the polling station designated by one's registered address. The location of the polling stations can be checked through the voting guide delivered to each household, the 'Voter Registration System' of the district office, or the National Election Commission's polling station locator service.
Voters must bring their resident registration card, passport, driver's license, youth identification card, or a photo identification issued by a public agency or institution. For mobile identification, saved images cannot be used.
If you accidentally mark incorrectly or damage the ballot, you cannot receive a new one. Voters who participated in early voting are already listed on the voter registration and cannot vote twice on election day.
Former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who resigned from his candidacy after the ballots were printed, will not have the word ‘resignation’ printed on the ballots distributed at polling stations. Instead, only a notice of resignation will be attached at the polling places. If you mark a candidate who has resigned, it will be treated as an invalid vote.
Encouraging and promoting pure voting participation is allowed even on election day, but there are precautions to take. Voters can take and post 'certification shots' displaying their marked ballots on social media. It is also permissible to post or send messages encouraging voting alongside photos of specific parties or candidates' election posters or promotional materials. However, all recordings must be done 'outside the polling station.' Taking photos of ballots inside the voting booth is prohibited, and actions encouraging voting within 100 meters of polling places are also banned.
When voting ends at 8 p.m., the ballot boxes at the polling stations will be sealed, including a special seal. Then, under police escort, election officials and observers will transport the ballot boxes to the counting center. Ballot boxes for early voting and mail-in voting stored by district election offices will be moved to the counting center by the election commission staff, party-recommended election commissioners, and police.
Results of the counting will be released in real-time by polling district through the National Election Commission website. The National Election Commission expects that counting will be possible starting around 8:30 to 8:40 p.m., considering the time it takes to transport the ballot boxes. It is estimated that the outline of the elected candidate will emerge around midnight when the counting rate reaches 70-80%. The final voter turnout and counting results are expected to be tallied by 6 a.m. on the following day, the 4th.
According to the Public Election Act, in the case of a presidential by-election due to a vacancy, the president's term begins when the election results are determined. The National Election Commission will convene a full committee as soon as the counting ends. In this meeting, the chairperson of the National Election Commission will decide on the elected president based on the counting results, and the term of the new president will begin immediately following the decision. The election commission expects to convene the full committee for the decision on the elected president between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. on the 4th.
In the 19th presidential election held in 2017 due to a vacancy in the presidency, the election commission officially confirmed the then Democratic Party of Korea candidate Moon Jae-in as the elected president at a full committee meeting around 8 a.m. on May 10, the day after the election.