I voted in South Korea’s elections. This is what democracy can look like in a pandemic. (Vox)

It involved a lot of hand sanitizer, masks, and disposable gloves.

SEONGNAM, South Korea — On April 15, millions of people across South Korea donned face masks, rubber gloves, and hand sanitizer to cast their votes in a nationwide election.

Poll workers wore face protection, masks, and medical gloves. Upon arrival at the polling station, voters’ temperatures were taken, and anyone showing signs of fever was taken to a more secluded area of the building to cast their ballots. Separate polling stations were set up outside of hospitals for people infected with Covid-19 to vote.

The strict health and safety measures South Korea’s government put in place for election day could serve as a blueprint for the rest of the world — including the United States — on how to safely hold an election amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In-person voting is a risky prospect right now, as public health experts warn that having large numbers of people gather in small, enclosed areas like polling places is one of the surest ways to spread the extremely contagious coronavirus.

This scenario played out in Wisconsin last week, when Republican lawmakers and the state’s conservative-controlled Supreme Court rejected the Democratic governor’s attempts to postpone the state’s scheduled elections or change voting rules to allow people to vote by mail…

To read the entire article from Vox, click https://www.vox.com/world/2020/4/17/21221786/coronavirus-south-korea-election-voting-covid-19-pandemic-democracy

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