Happy Friday! Our Friday read is a starter kit on how South Koreans earned their right to vote and the logistics of voting in Korea today. https://twitter.com/BluRoofPolitics/status/1332315244065001472

South Korea's fight for democracy is in large part a fight for the right to vote. During the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, an "electoral college," was used to legitimatize the dictatorship. Here is the photo of the 1972 presidential election, for example.

The electors congregated at a gym to vote. To this day, when Koreans say the election was a "gym election" 체육관선거, they mean the election was rigged.

Since democratization, South Korea has worked to make its elections secure and easily accessible. Elections are managed by a constitutional body outside of the three branches of the government. Everyone is automatically registered at birth. Election day is a holiday.