An electronic voting system, an online general meeting, and an electronic agreement will be applied in the Seoul maintenance project.

On the 17th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will implement a comprehensive plan of 11 measures, including systems and support, to promote the introduction of electronic voting, online general meetings, and electronic agreements. The Seoul Metropolitan Government expects that the introduction of the three electronic systems will reduce the expenses and duration of the maintenance projects and increase participation rates among members.

Electronic voting and online general meeting guide / Courtesy of Seoul City

To introduce the three electronic systems, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to implement the following: ▲ completely block concerns about tampering with electronic voting ▲ distribute guidelines on using electronic voting and online general meetings ▲ provide consulting to strengthen personal data protection for service providers ▲ enforce regulations to penalize improper service providers ▲ expedite the introduction of electronic agreements for establishment of promotion committees and organizations ▲ support budgets for unions participating in electronic voting and online general meetings.

Earlier, starting last year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government utilized the ICT regulatory sandbox system to promote pilot projects for electronic voting and online general meetings with 10 unions. As a result, general meeting expenses were reduced by approximately 62%, and the preparation time for the meetings was shortened from 1 to 3 months to within 2 weeks. The early voting period was also reduced from 4 weeks to 9 days, the average turnout increased by more than 6 percentage points, and member satisfaction reached 98%, with convenience rated at 97%, proving its overall effectiveness and prompting full-scale implementation.

To prevent tampering with electronic voting, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will introduce a service that stores and verifies voting results on the city’s blockchain server. Improvements to the blockchain management system are expected to be provided starting in September. In addition to the existing certified electronic document center, voting results will be stored in the blockchain server of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the union, and members, completely blocking the possibility of tampering. Furthermore, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will directly produce and release the country's first 'easy-to-understand guidelines for utilizing electronic voting and online general meetings in maintenance projects.'

In the future, the procedure for obtaining consent for the formation of promotion committees and establishment of unions can also be completed with just one mobile vote. Until now, only written consent was allowed for forming promotion committees or establishing unions, leading to concerns about tampering and delays in collecting consent. Now, with the introduction of 'electronic agreements,' consent can easily be obtained by simply going through mobile identity verification. This also allows for a reduction in the time required for collecting consent without worries about tampering.

Support for maintenance project unions will also be expanded. As part of the '2025 electronic voting and online general meeting activation project,' the Seoul Metropolitan Government will support general meeting expenses through a competition. Following the selection of 11 unions in January to February, they plan to select more than 15 additional unions in June to July, providing expense support of up to 10 million won.