580 Million Election Pamphlet Sheets for Upcoming June 3 Local Election Are Largely Unread
- Doyoung Lim
- Jun 6
- 2 min read
June 6, 2026
Doyoung Lim
As the June 3 local elections are approaching, election pamphlets are being sent to households in South Korea, but concerns are growing that the mass mailing wastes resources while large amounts of them are unread. Under the Public Official Election Act, election pamphlets must be sent to every household at least 10 days before election day. This year’s election pamphlets were sent out by Sunday and are expected to arrive by month’s end. The pamphlets for local government are organized with 12 pages and those for 8 local council members.
The environmental cost is rapidly growing. According to the National Election Commission (NEC), election pamphlets for the 2022 local elections totaled 580 million sheets and weighed approximately 12,853 tons, roughly consuming 210,000 trees. Yet few voters actually read them. According to a survey of 6,820 eligible voters by the Korean Government Employees’ Union between February and March, just 11 percent read the pamphlets in detail, while 52 percent skim them, and 37 percent do not read them at all and just throw them away. Some voters are arguing that election pamphlets be converted to digital formats, but the efforts have repeatedly stalled.
Accessibility for voters with disabilities also remains a concern, even though a 2020 revision to the Public Official Election Act requires the NEC to distribute audio and digital files along printed pamphlets. Five presidential candidates in last year’s presidential election provided USB flash drives containing digital files with readers. But the drives have limitations as individuals use different tools to read and access the information. The drives also added to the physical waste problem.
According to the Korea Blind Union, although it lacks data on how frequently people use the drives, there is a need for more formats such as online audio files. Some experts stated that the government must expand available formats for specific voters with visibility problems, including QR codes and other revisions for them.
